Endophytic fungi or endophytes exist widely inside the healthy tissues of living plants, and are important components of plant micro-ecosystems Over the long period of evolution, some co-existing endophytes and their host plants have established a special relationship with one and another, which can significantly influence the formation of metabolic products in plants, then affect quality and quantity of crude drugs derived from medicinal plants This paper will focus on the increasing knowledge of relationships between endophytic fungi and medicinal plants through reviewing of published research data obtained from the last 30 years The analytical results indicate that the distribution and population structure of endophytes can be considerably affected by factors, such as the genetic background, age, and environmental conditions of their hosts On the other hand, the endophytic fungi can also confer profound impacts on their host plants by enhancing their growth, increasing their fitness, strengthening their tolerances to abiotic and biotic stresses, and promoting their accumulation of secondary metabolites All the changes are very important for the production of bioactive components in their hosts Hence, it is essential to understand such relationships between endophytic fungi and their host medicinal plants Such knowledge can be well exploited and applied for the production of better and more drugs from medicinal plants

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A Friendly Relationship between Endophytic Fungi and Medicinal Plants: A Systematic Review.

A critical review on exploiting the pharmaceutical potential of plant endophytic fungi.

In a natural ecosystem, the plant is in a symbiotic relationship with beneficial endophytes contributing huge impact on its host plant. Therefore, exploring beneficial endophytes and understanding its interaction is a prospective area of research. The present work aims to characterize the fungal endophytic communities associated with healthy maize and rice plants and to study the deterministic factors influencing plant growth and biocontrol properties against phytopathogens, viz, Pythium ultimum, Sclerotium oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani, and Pyricularia oryzae. A total of 123 endophytic fungi was isolated using the culture-dependent approach from different tissue parts of the plant. Most dominating fungal endophyte associated with both the crops belong to genus Fusarium, Sarocladium, Aspergillus, and Penicillium and their occurrence was not tissue specific. The isolates were screened for in vitro plant growth promotion, stress tolerance, disease suppressive mechanisms and based on the results, each culture from both the cereal crops was selected for further study. Acremonium sp. (ENF 31) and Penicillium simplicisssum (ENF22), isolated from maize and rice respectively could potentially inhibit the growth of all the tested pathogens with 46.47 ± 0.16 mm to 60.09 ± 0.04 mm range zone of inhibition for ENF31 and 35.48 ± 0.14 to 62.29 ± 0.15 mm for ENF22. Both significantly produce the defensive enzymes, ENF31 could tolerate a wide range of pH from 2 to 12, very important criteria, for studying plant growth in different soil types, especially acidic as it is widely prevalent here, making more land unsuitable for cultivation. ENF22 grows in pH range 3-12, with 10% salt tolerating ability, another factor of consideration. Study of root colonization during 7th to 30th days of growth phase reveals that ENF31 could colonize pleasantly in rice, though a maize origin, ranging from 1.02 to 1.21 log10 CFU/g root and in maize, it steadily colonizes ranging from 0.95 to 1.18 log10 CFU, while ENF22 could colonize from 0.98 to 1.24 Log10CFU/g root in rice and 1.01 to 1.24Log10CFU/g root in maize, just the reverse observed in Acremonium sp. Therefore, both the organism has the potency of a promising Bio-resource agent, that we must definitely explore to fill the gap in the agriculture industry.

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Functional Characterization of Endophytic Fungal Community Associated with Oryza sativa L. and Zea mays L.

It is known that plant-based ethnomedicine represented the foundation of modern pharmacology and that many pharmaceuticals are derived from compounds occurring in plant extracts. This track still stimulates a worldwide investigational activity aimed at identifying novel bioactive products of plant origin. However, the discovery that endophytic fungi are able to produce many plant-derived drugs has disclosed new horizons for their availability and production on a large scale by the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, following the path traced by the blockbuster drug taxol, an increasing number of valuable compounds originally characterized as secondary metabolites of plant species belonging to the Spermatophyta have been reported as fermentation products of endophytic fungal strains. Aspects concerning sources and bioactive properties of these compounds are reviewed in this paper.

Plant Bioactive Metabolites and Drugs Produced by Endophytic Fungi of Spermatophyta

Sequential extraction, characterization and antioxidant activity of polysaccharides from Fritillaria pallidiflora Schrenk

Diverse fungal endophytes are rich fungal resources for the production of an enormous quantity of natural products. In the present study, 53 fungal endophytes were isolated from the bulbs of Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis (FUW). Of these, 49 strains were identified and grouped into 17 different taxa, and priority was conferred to the Fusarium genus. All fungal fermented filtrates displayed antioxidant activities. The DPPH activity, total antioxidant capacities (ABTS), reduction power (FRAP), total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and total saponin content (TSC) were evaluated using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, n-butyl alcohol and ethanol fractions extracted from five representative fungal cultures. The last three fractions showed more potent antioxidant activity than the first fraction. Significant positive correlations were found between the compositions (TPC, TFC and TSC) and antioxidant capacities (DPPH, ABTS and FRAP). In addition, multifarious natural antioxidant components were identified from the fungal extracts, including gallic acid, rutin, phlorizin, 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol and 2,6-di-tert-butyl hydroquinone; these were determined preliminarily by TLC-bioautography, HPLC and GC-MS analysis. This study showed abundant fungal resources in FUW. Phenolics, flavonoids and saponins are crucial bioactive constituents in these abundant fungal endophytes and can be viewed as new potential antioxidant resources.

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Fungal endophyte-derived Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis: diversity, antioxidant capacities in vitro and relations to phenolic, flavonoid or saponin compounds.

Fusarium redolens 6WBY3, an endophytic fungus isolated from Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis, produces peimisine and imperialine-3β-D-glucoside.

Feng Pan

Papers

Fungal endophyte-derived Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis: diversity, antioxidant capacities in vitro and relations to phenolic, flavonoid or saponin compounds.

Fusarium redolens 6WBY3, an endophytic fungus isolated from Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis, produces peimisine and imperialine-3β-D-glucoside.

Peimisine and peiminine production by endophytic fungus Fusarium sp. isolated from Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabensis

Endophytic fungus strain 28 isolated from Houttuynia cordata possesses wide-spectrum antifungal activity

Extraction, purification and antioxidation of a polysaccharide from Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis