Pharmaceutically Important Fungal Endophytes Associated with Mushrooms: Current Findings and Prospects

Traditional medication knowledge base has propelled the pharma sector to actively look into natural bioactive. Apart from various plants, certain mushrooms have also been documented. Many edible mushroom varieties that are used in traditional medication grow in the wild and have proved to be difficult for cultivation. Endophytes associated with such mushrooms could potentiate the availability of mushroom-specific bioactive via their fermentation route. This concept is based on the similarity of endophytic fungi of plants that sometimes possess host-similar pathways to produce pharmaceutically important bioactive. Isolation, characterization, and growing of mushroom-isolated endophytes in laboratory conditions may allow bypassing the need for mushroom cultivation. The traditional approach of isolating, cultivating and characterizing of endophyte has led to limited research on their endophytic fungi. Recent methods of high-throughput sequencing have allowed discovery of previously unknown microbial strains associated with mushrooms. Subsequent analyses for bioactive discovery are being eagerly looked forward. Here, we attempt to understand the available literature and present the scope of research in this domain. Specifically, we examine the pharmaceutically important bioactive of endophytes present in Tricholoma matsutake, Cordyceps sinensis, Cordyceps hawkesii Gray, Cordyceps militaris, Lycoperdon umbrinum and Morchella crassipes. Cultivating such endophytes may require environmental equivalence as that of wild mushroom host or the presence of metabolites from the host mushroom. Analysing these interactors will provide for measures to cultivate the endophytes that will allow harvesting the beneficial bioactive. We conclude with possible research domains that may be taken up by avid researchers.