Cunninghamella elegans: Benefits for Health and Agriculture
摘要
Cunninghamella elegans (C. elegans) is an endophytic fungus with a wide variety of applications that go from agricultural to pharmaceutical uses. An example of its versatility is the enzymatic system that possesses, such enzymes can mimic mammalian drug metabolites because of the similarity with human cytochrome P450 by generating similar metabolites, which makes it important as an in vitro alternative to animal or human studies in early drug development. Other application is for chitosan production, which is used in agriculture as antimicrobial and plant growth promotion, thus enriching the organic composition of soils and improving nutrient uptake; other metabolites that can produce are gamma-linolenic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid, which are used for nutraceutical purposes. C. elegans also has the ability to degrade agrochemicals and heavy metals, which makes feasible its use in bioremediation. The aim of this chapter is to analyse the contributions of C. elegans outlining the pharmaceutical, environmental and agricultural applications and their perspectives for future research.