Diversity, Ecology, and Bioprospecting of Endophytic Fungi in the Brazilian Biomes of Rupestrian Grasslands, Caatinga, Pampa, and Pantanal

Plants harbor diverse microorganisms, and among them, the endophytic fungi can thrive asymptomatically in different healthy tissues of living plants above and/or under the ground, including the leaves, stems, and roots. Brazil is a country with some of the greatest plant biodiversity in the world and shelters different biomes such as the Rupestrian Grasslands, Caatinga, Pampa, and Pantanal with rich and diverse flora and consequently endophytic fungi. Plants present in the Brazilian biomes represent various known species of important genera, such as Colletotrichum, Diaporthe, Fusarium, Penicillium, Trichoderma, and Xylaria, and likely novel fungal taxa. All these potentially diverse endophytic fungi can include species or strains that are producer of bioactive compounds for use in biotechnological processes. We focused the present chapter as a review of the diversity of endophytic fungi from the Brazilian biomes of Rupestrian Grasslands, Caatinga, Pampa, and Pantanal and examples of their use as producers of bioactive compounds.