Endophytic Fungi: Eco-Friendly Future Resource for Novel Bioactive Compounds

Abstract

The current research focuses on the isolation of bioactive compounds from the natural sources which have immense potential for pharmaceutical value. Pharmaceutical biology perceives plants as a unique resource of potentially precious remedial bioactive metabolites. But due to slow growth and harvest of endangerd plants species pose a threat and inbalance in the biodiversity of plants. However, most of the plant species occur on the earth to be a reservoir of vast numbers of endophytic microorganisms like bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi that play an imperative role in the production of novel secondary metabolites for the defense of host and can be utilized for treatment of a number of ailments. Search for isolation and characterization of different plant-associated fungal origin novel bioactive metabolites are given an immense attention to global investigators. The endophytic fungi are an enormous manufacturer of bioactive compounds which can be widely used in the medical, agricultural, and industrial application. Therefore, there is a need to isolate, identify, and characterize these bioactive compounds from the endophytic fungi. Further, research on the biology of endophytes is also required to saturate at the molecular level for a better understanding of host–endophyte interactions and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites thereby. Modern technologies have opened new avenue on endophytic research as natural “warehouse” with very little has been able to tap from this source so far and among the reported natural bioactive metabolites. Thus, there is more research and studies on these groups of endophytic microorganisms are required. The collaboration among chemists and mycologists are needed to comprehend the biology of endophytic fungi and may help to learn the different pathways involved in synthesis of bioactive compounds, and the ecology of the organisms will help to understand the optimization parameters of the organism for the maximum metabolites production, and mycologist will have the chance to increase further imminence into the multifarious diversity of endophytic fungal species. The present review is made on endophytic fungi, biosynthetic pathways responsible for the production of novel bioactive compounds from these microorganisms and their applications.