Mangrove fungi: A glimpse into Africa, its diversity and biotechnological potential

Abstract

African Mangroves are among the unique forest ecosystems dominating mostly the coastal waters of the Indian Ocean that provide habitat for diversified biodiversity, including fungi. Mangrove fungal diversity represents the largest untapped reservoir of biodiversity for the potential discovery of new pharmaceuticals, enzymes, and unique bio compounds used for various biotechnological applications. However, they have been highly underappreciated. For ages, fungi from the marine environment have been considered aliens with low species diversity and richness, partly due to poor techniques deployed in exploring them. Advancement of culture-independent approaches, especially next-generation sequencing (NGS), has unveiled a tremendous fungal diversity, once hidden in plain sight in the surrounding environment. A spark of interest ignited in mycological and biotechnological research, and scientists focus on mangrove fungi to unearth novel metabolites with anticancer, antimicrobial, and biotechnological potentials. Many studies of marine endophytic fungi revealed a significant gap in the documentation of African mangrove fungi, their study methods, and their metabolites of biotechnological potential. This review highlights the information gap on African mangrove fungal diversity and the biotechnological potential of their metabolites for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. In addition, the study will discuss techniques used for their isolation and characterization.