Advances In Endophytic Fungal Research

Plant endophytes are a potential source for the production of bioactive compounds that can fight against devastating diseases in both plants and humans. Among these endophytic microorganisms, endophytic fungi are one of the dominant group of microorganisms with a potential role in plant growth promotion and the discovery of noble bioactive natural products. Endophytic fungi possess several bioactivities like anticancer, antimicrobial, insecticidal, plant growth stimulants, crop protection, phytoremediation, etc. Presence of modular biosynthetic genes clusters like PKS and NRPS in several endophytic fungi underscores the need to understand and explore such organisms. This volume presents and demonstrates the applied aspects of endophytic fungi. Practical applications of such endophytes are discussed in detail, including studies in pharmaceutical development and agricultural management of important microbial diseases. The beneficial effects that endophytic fungi provide to host plants—enhancing growth, increasing fitness, strengthening tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses through secondary metabolites—are also discussed. The reader is provided with a comprehensive and detailed understanding of such relationships between endophytic fungi and their host.

​In recent years there has been significant attention paid on the endophytic research by various groups working within this domain. Mutualistic endophytic microbes with an emphasis on the relatively understudied fungal endophytes are the focus of this special book. Plants are associated with micro-organisms: endophytic bacteria and fungi, which live inter- and intra-cellularly without inducing pathogenic symptoms, but have active biochemical and genetic interactions with their host. Endophytes play vital roles as plant growth promoters, biocontrol agents, biosurfactant producers, enzymes and secondary metabolite producers, as well as providing a new hidden repertoire of bioactive natural products with uses in pharmaceutical, agrochemical and other biotechnological applications. The increasing interest in endophytic research generates significant progress in our understanding of the host-endophyte relationship at molecular and genetic level. The bio-prospection of microbial endophytes has led to exciting possibilities for their biotechnological application as biocontrol agent, bioactive metabolites, and other useful traits. Apart from these virtues, the microbial endophytes may be adapted to the complex metabolism of many desired molecules that can be of significant industrial applications. These microbes can be a useful alternative for sustainable solutions for ecological control of pests and diseases, and can reduce the burden of excess of chemical fertilizers for this purpose. This book is an attempt to review the recent development in the understanding of microbial endophytes and their potential biotechnological applications. This is a collection of literature authored by noted researchers having signatory status in endophytic research and summarizes the development achieved so far, and future prospects for further research in this fascinating area of research.

This pioneering book focuses on Neotropical endophytic fungi, providing a comprehensive overview of their diversity, ecology, and biotechnological applications in medicine, agriculture, and industry. Despite their rich diversity, the endophytic fungi associated with plants of Central and South American biomes remain largely unknown. The book addresses that knowledge gap by offering insights into Neotropic endophytic fungal community.

Fungi are the renowned eukaryotic organisms. They are heterotrophs like animals, plants and most of the bacteria and studied under the separate branch of science âMycology'. They are abundantly found worldwide as yeasts, moulds, mushrooms etc. Due to the discovery of the different types of fungi, their working styles, habitats, their growing style, culture, sources and optimum locality, fungi have been classified separately from the other eukaryotes like animal and plants. In modern time, there are a number of diseases known which have been caused by fungi but many more significant and useful functions of them are also known and well discovered. Their various positive roles in medicines, remediation, food industries, agriculture, paper and pulp industries, chemical industries, biological researches etc. make them highly significant objectives for researchers and scientists. They also secrete a number of biologically valuable enzymes which further enhance their utility in the field of biotechnology. Their worldwide distributions make them easily available for the research. A number of researches in the field of fungal biotechnology are currently running in order to explore their momentous properties related to their nutraceutical and pharmaceutical values. In this regard, the deep study of their detailed properties, sources, culture, secretion of enzymes, isolation techniques, characterization, kinetics etc. are highly required. Handy nature, very easy language, scientific writing style and advanced research materials of this book make this interesting and highly helpful for the readers and researchers of the field of life sciences, biochemistry and biotechnology to conduct their research. Students of undergraduate and post graduate courses of life sciences/biochemistry/biotechnology will also highly benefit from this book. This book has recent, descriptive as well as up to date information on the recent developments in the world of fungi in the form 17 chapters (divided in two sections: section A and section B) prepared by admirable scientific collaborations. Each chapter has been written by worldwide eminent experts of their scientific research fields. This book covered several valuable and promising topics: (i) Diversity, distribution and classification of fungi. (ii) Isolation, identification and characterization of fungi. (iii) Study of the fungal culture, growth, production, optimization etc. (iv) Rhizospheric fungi, endophytic fungi, lichens, pathogens and secondary metabolites. (v) Fungal properties and applications, biologically potential mushrooms, nutraceutical applications, pharmaceutical applications and bioconversions of wastes materials etc. (vi) Secretion of the different enzymes from fungi (vii) Fungal enzymes, their purification, characterization, kinetics, properties and applications in the field of biotechnology.

Endophytic Fungi: The Full Story of the Untapped Treasure covers the developments in endophytic fungal research from beginning to the end by the eminent researchers involved in the field. It sheds light on the endophytic fungal current research, challenges, and future possibilities, the trending recent topics in the plant-fungal endophytes' biodynamics for sustainable development of bioproducts and its applications are supported in large-scale biosynthesis of industrially and pharmaceutical important biomolecules. The highlights of Endophytic Fungi: The Full Story of the Untapped Treasure are the bioprospecting and applied aspects of endophytic fungi. Practical applications of such endophytes are discussed in detail. Further, it reviews recent strategies on alternative sustainable sources of medicines such as secondary metabolites of fungi instead of over collection of plants under prohibiting of biodiversity conventions. The uniqueness of the Endophytic Fungi is the inclusion of updated bioinformatics-based strategies and its importance in bioactive molecules produced by endophytic fungi. Endophytic Fungi addresses one of the most eminent issues in this field: "how to translate the potential that endophytic fungi hold in stable practical application." Covers major concepts of plant-fungi interaction, biodiversity of endophytic fungi from diverse and biotechnological applications for sustainable development Is extensively illustrated and clearly written, using easy-to-understand language, sharing the latest developments and potential of fungal products for various applications Sheds light on the endophytic fungal current research, challenges, and future possibilities Serves as a useful reference for policy makers

This book explores the developments in important aspects of fungi related to the environment, industrial mycology, microbiology, biotechnology, and agriculture. It discusses at length both basic and applied aspects of fungi and provides up-to-date laboratory-based data. Of the estimated three million species of fungi on Earth, according to Hawksworth and coworkers, more than 100,000 have been described to date. Many fungi produce toxins, organic acids, antibiotics and other secondary metabolites, and are sources of useful biocatalysts such as cellulases, xylanases, proteases and pectinases, to mention a few. They can also cause diseases in animals as well as plants and many are able to break down complex organic molecules such as lignin and pollutants like xenobiotics, petroleum and polycyclic aromatic compounds. Current research on mushrooms focuses on their hypoglycemic, anti-cancer, anti-pathogenic and immunity-enhancing activities. This ready-reference resource on various aspects of fungi is intended for graduate and post-graduate students as well as researchers in life sciences, microbiology, botany, environmental sciences and biotechnology.

Endophytic fungi are important biotechnological tools because they produce many secondary metabolites. However, to access this important source of bioactive molecules, it is essential to explore the diversity of endophytic fungi and catalog their species richness in different ecosystems. This book reviews the diversity, characterisation and biocontrol of endophytic fungi.

Indian mycologists have extensively studied various groups of fungi such as soil fungi, aquatic fungi, marine fungi, endophytic fungi, fungi associated with man and animals. Though several books on various aspects of fungi are published, this is the first account of the history and developments in mycology in India. It discusses at length various stages of development of mycology including both classical and biotechnological aspects. It begins with a historical account of Indian mycology, followed by a description of research on fossil fungi. Further chapters cover the latest updates on different taxonomic groups of fungi. A dedicated section describes the roles and applications of fungal endophytes. The book also includes research in other important areas such as mushrooms and wood rotting fungi. Different chapters are written by leading mycologists. This book is useful to students, teachers and researchers in botany, microbiology, biotechnology and life sciences, agriculture and industries using fungi to produce various valuable products.