*Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt
**Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt
***Department of Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Product, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt
****Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt
Seven sponge species were collected from Red Sea in Ein El-soukhna, Egypt. Dextrose yeast extract medium (DYA) and the dilution technique were the most suitable condition for isolation. 95 endophytic fungal isolates constituting 22 species were screened from the sponge samples. The sponge species Cliona celate and Agelas citrine have been colonized by the highest endophytic fungal isolates. Aspergillus oryzae and Cladosporium cladosporioides were highly frequent endophytic fungal species in sponges with isolation rate 20% & 12% and colonized 4 sponge species with 57% colonization rate. However 50% of the endophytic fungi were specific to one sponge species. All endophytic fungal species showed variant spectrum of antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic bacteria and fungi. They also exhibited antioxidant activity. The highly prevalent A.oryzae and C.cladosporioides proved to be the potent fungal species in both biological activities.
Red Sea Sponge, Endophytic Fungi, Antioxidant Activity, Antibacterial Activity, Antifungal Activity
