Endophytism of Penicillium Species in Woody Plants

The genus Penicillium is ubiquitous and its species are commonly recovered from every kind of substrate and environmental conditions. Therefore, not surprisingly, Penicillium strains are commonly reported in investigations dealing with fungal endophytic assemblages of plants in both natural and anthropic contexts. As such they are implicated in more or less effective relationships with the host, and involved in applicative issues concerning plant protection and the production of bioactive compounds to be exploited as pharmaceuticals. The available data on occurrence, biocenotic role, production and bioactivities of secondary metabolites of Penicillium strains which have been isolated as endophytes from woody plants are reviewed in the present paper in the aim to introduce the state of the art to researchers involved in this particular field.