Fungal Endophytes and Their Bioactive Compounds: An Overview of Potential Applications

Fungal endophytes are present in every species of living plant throughout the earth forming a balanced symbiotic relationship with the plants. They produce diverse range of bioactive compounds that protect the host plant from biotic and abiotic stress contributing to the plant’s ecological success as well as their own. These bioactive compounds can be beneficial to not only the plants but also to human and the environment. A multitude of secondary metabolites produced by fungal endophytes showed antimicrobial activity against many plant and human pathogens including the antibiotic-resistant pathogens. They also produce antiparasitic compounds which can be used to eliminate deadly diseases including malaria. Many bioactive compounds produced by fungal endophytes also showed anticancer activity by disrupting the cell cycle, inducing apoptosis, and disrupting important pathways and gene expression. Furthermore, they also play a huge role in soil remediation. In this chapter, we discuss in detail fungal endophytes and their symbiotic relationship with their plant host. We also discuss the various bioactive compounds they produce and the different biological activities of these bioactive compounds.