*2.4. Isolates Cultivation and Metabolites Extraction*

Pure isolates were subcultured in Tryptone Yeast Extract broth as seed medium (ISP-1 medium, Himedia, India) at 28 ◦C for 2 weeks prior to fermentation process. The production medium, ISP-2 was autoclaved at 121 ◦C and 1.5 atm for 15 min. Fermentation was carried out in 750 mL of (in 7 nos. conical flasks <sup>−</sup>1000 mL) ISP-2 medium, shaking at 140 rev min−<sup>1</sup> for 14 days at 28 ◦C, inoculated with 250 μL of seed medium. After incubation, the culture medium was split into mycelium and filtrate by centrifugation at 12,000× *g* for 15 min. The cell free supernatant from each flask was subjected to extraction thrice with equal volume of ethyl acetate (Qualigens Fine Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., San Diego, USA) and the organic phase was concentrated by rotary vacuum evaporator (Hahn-Shin, Bucheon, South Korea) at 50 ◦C. The crude concentrate was dried in a desiccator and suspended in methanol prior to bioactivity screening assays.
