Archive | 2021
Fungal endophytes, biodiversity and biopotential applications
Abstract
Abstract Marine-derived endophytic fungus which colonies internal tissues of their host such as seaweeds, sponges, mangroves have emerged as an alternative source of promising bioactive agents including alkaloids, terpenoids, polyketides, lipids, protein, glycosides, isoprenoids and hybrids of those metabolites. These fungi are an ecological group of fungus mostly belonging to the family Ascomycota, which resides in the roots and aerial tissues of plants without including any visual symptoms of their presence. All these fungi appear to have the capacity to produce an array of secondary metabolites exhibiting a variety of biological activities. A high proportion of culture extracts of sponge-associated fungi from the southeast coastal region was biologically active in tests to detect anticancer, antifungal, anti-algal and antibacterial activity, cytotoxicity and inhibition of reverse transcriptase and tyrosine kinase. This chapter reveals the occurrence and biological activity of endophytic fungus on the southeast coast of India. This review emphasizes the need to routinely include endophytic fungus in the screening of organisms for bioactive metabolites and novel drugs. The preliminary screening of fungal endophytes revealed their potential to yield potent bioactive compounds for new drug discovery programs in the future.