Bioactive secondary metabolites and their exploitation in the pharmaceutical industry produced by endophytic fungi

Historically, bioactive compounds produced by animals, plants and microorganisms have been a rich source of lead molecules in drug discovery. Plant and endophytic fungi are considered a source of a plethora of bioactive compounds with potential applications in the agriculture, pharmaceutical and food industry. Endophytic fungi are ubiquitous microorganisms living asymptomatically within the tissue of higher plants without causing any adverse effects or visible symptoms. In this scenario, fungal endophytic bioactive compounds have an important function to endorse plant growth through diverse mechanisms. They are equally important economically to humans by plating as antibiotics, drugs, medicines, compounds of high relevance in research, or compounds useful in the food industry. Many antibiotics such as ivermectin and validamycin and anti-cancerous compounds such as taxol, cytospolides Q, P, colletotriolide, mycoleptodiscin B etc. have been successfully isolated from endophytic fungi. This review will highlight the different fungal endophytic classes and their exolites for medicinal use and applications in pharmaceuticals.