Recent Advances in Pharmaceutically Important Compounds from Endophytic Fungi

The study of endophytic fungi as a source of new bioactive molecules is an area that has grown very much within the chemistry of natural products, probably due to advances in the techniques of isolation, identification, and dereplication of fungal species and the exploration of new biomes and niches for the collection of host plants. Secondary metabolites produced by endophytes have been shown to be active against the most diverse types of biological targets, such as numerous tumor cell lines, parasites, and etiological agents causing neglected diseases (HIV, Chagas disease, Leishmaniasis, etc.). More recently, a significant number of metabolites of endophytic fungi have also been successfully studied against several important targets of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This chapter presents recent data on fungal metabolites that have distinguished biological activity and potential for further drug developmentdrug development.