A REVIEW OF THE MUTUALISTIC RELATIONSHIP OF ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIOACTIVE METABOLITES

Endophytes constitute a remarkably multifarious group of microorganisms ubiquitous in plants and maintain an imperceptible association with their hosts for at least a part of their life cycle. Their enormous biological diversity, coupled with their capability to biosynthesize bioactive secondary metabolites, has provided the impetus for a number of investigations on endophytes. There is a need to search new ecological niches for the potential of natural bioactive agents for different pharmaceutical, agriculture, and industrial application; these should be renewable, eco-friendly, and easily obtainable natural products discovery in the search for new drugs and is the most potent source for the discovery of novel bioactive compounds. Therefore, a large number of bioactive compounds are isolated from plants, bacteria, fungi, and many other organisms. Endophytic fungi, the most promising of these, have been a source of various such bioactive compounds. Many of these compounds are being used for the treatment of a number of diseases. This review emphasis on the biology of fungal endophytes, their discovery, isolation, identification by morphological and molecular methods, production, purification and structure elucidation of the bioactive compounds.