Endophytic fungi from medicinal plants: biodiversity and biotechnological applications

Abstract The endophytes from medicinal plants are important resources for discovery of natural products and bioactive compounds having the potential biotechnological applications in agriculture, industry, medicine, and allied sectors. Endophytes have been sorted out from all the parts of medicinal plant such as roots, stem, leaves, fruits, flowers, bark, scales, resin canals, and even from meristem. The medicinal plants which are known to be used since centuries as a substitute of medicine are a precious source for bioprospecting endophytes. The endophytic fungi such as Acremonium, Alternaria, Apiospora, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Bartalinia, Cephalosporium, Chaetomium, Chloridium, Choanephora, Colletotrichum, Cryptosporiopsis, Emericella, Eupenicillium, Eutypella, Eutypella, Fusarium, Gliocladium, Hypoxylon, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Pestalotiopsis, Pseudomassari, Quercina, Talaromyces, and Trichoderma have been reported from different medicinal plants. These endophytic fungi have ability to produce the natural and potential bioactive compounds for different processes. The present chapter reveals the importance of endophytic fungi from medicinal plants as a source of bioactive and chemically novel compounds as well as its use in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries.