Endophytic Fungi: Host-Derived Phytochemicals: Techniques of Bioactive materials Acquisition and synthesis

Long years of research into alternative, microbiological sources for valuable phytochemicals were driven by the fact that endophytic fungi usually synthesize secondary metabolites which structurally identical or nearly related to bioactive substances exist in hosting plants. This review investigates the suggested mechanisms for this convergence, like horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among host and fungus, long-term coevolution and convergent biosynthetic evolution, and bioconversion of host-derived precursors. Furtherance of more convincing cases like camptothecin-producing endophytes from Camptotheca acuminata, it looks at important and contentious case for studies, especially the identification of the Taxol-producing Taxomyces andreanae in Taxus brevifolia and the genomic re-examination which was unable to confirm independent fungal Taxol biosynthesis. β-1,6-glucanase gene transferring among the fungal endophyte and a cool-season grass host was investigated in reported existence of HGT. Although endophyte-host chemical mimicry is a considerable promise for the discovery of sustainable natural products, the claim of autonomous synthesis should thoroughly be confirmed by analysis of phytochemical and genomic before microbial sources could be considered as trustworthy relative to compounds produced by the plants.