The Future Products: Endophytic Fungal Metabolites

As far as microbial world concerned on earth, there are large number of domains has shown the potential for various applications. Fungal domain is one of them. Since the discovery of penicillin, various fungi has been harnessed for a large number of applications. Still there is a requirement of novel products for human welfare and development. So what are the fungi of next door? Are the fungal endophytes? Yes? This is the area untouched for a longer period of time. These fungi represent one of the most understudied and diverse group of organisms, are ubiquitous and occur within almost all the plants, including a broad range of hosts in various ecosystems, and therefore play an important role in the natural environment. Despite extensive work in this field, the products of these fungi remains poorly characterized. A large number of endophytic fungi such as Taxomyces, Pestalotiopsis, Muscodor, Piriformospora, Alternaria, Colletotrichum, Cryptosporiopsis, produce enormous valuable products for medicinal, agricultural and industrial importance. Some of the well-known products are taxol (Paclitaxel), serine hydrolases for polyurethane degradation, Annulene (Volatile organic compounds), Colletotric acid and Cryptocandin. So what next, are endophytic fungal metabolites are the future products? The present review explore the potential of these endophytic fungi with respect to the production of various novel secondary metabolites/products in comparison with the traditional fungi of importance.