• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.10-27
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• 2020

Endophytes are defined as microorganisms that spend part of lifetime interior of plant tissues without causing negative effects. They have been used for agricultural purpose, biofuel production, bioremediation, medication, etc. In particular, endophytes have been emerged as a good source for bioactive secondary metabolites. A large number of secondary metabolites are currently being reported. In this report, we focus on the secondary metabolites that were originated from endophytic fungi inhabiting medicinal plants. They were classified into several groups such as nitrogenous compounds, steroids, sulfide-containing metabolites, terpenoids, polyketides, and miscellaneous for discussion of chemical structures and biological activities.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.133-136
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• 2015

We investigated endophytic fungi diversity of two Pinaceae species (Pinus densiflora, Pinus rigida) and one Cupressaceae species (Juniperus rigida) on Mt. Seodae, Korea. In total, 34 isolates were obtained from 19 host plants and identified according to internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. As a result, they were placed in 13 taxa. Among them, 52.9% belonged to Leotiomycetes, 32.3% belonged to Sordariomycetes, 5.8% belonged to Agaricomycetes, and 3.0% for isolates belonged to either Eurotiomycetes, Dothideomycetes or Ustilaginomycetes. In particular, Lophodermium growing in pine would be an especially important instance of biodiversity for endophytes, suggesting that further study examining its ecological function in the environment is critical.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.299-309
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• 2024

The rice blast disease, caused by the fungal pathogen, Magnaporthe oryzae (syn. Pyricularia oryzae), poses a significant threat to the global rice production. Understanding how this disease impacts the plant's microbial communities is crucial for gaining insights into host-pathogen interactions. In this study, we investigated the changes in communities of bacterial and fungal endophytes inhabiting different compartments in healthy and diseased plants. We found that both alpha and beta diversities of endophytic communities do not change significantly by the pathogen infection. Rather, the type of plant compartment appeared to be the main driver of endophytic community structures. Although the overall structure seemed to be consistent between healthy and diseased plants, our analysis of differentially abundant taxa revealed the specific bacterial and fungal operational taxonomic units that exhibited enrichment in the root and leaf compartments of infected plants. These findings suggest that endophyte communities are robust to the changes at the early stage of pathogen infection, and that some of endophytes enriched in infected plants might have roles in the defense against the pathogen.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1039-1052
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• 2017

Endophytic fungi have currently been acknowledged as the most promising source of bioactive compounds for drug discovery, and considerable progress has been made in exploring their diversity, species richness, and bioprospecting. Fungal endophytes from unique environmental settings offer a pool of potentially useful medicinal entities. Owing to the constant stresses imposed on macroalgae by marine environments, it is believed that algae and their associated endophytic symbionts represent a good source of structurally diverse bioactive secondary metabolites. Despite the proven significance of active metabolites of algal endophytes, little have been exploited. This review highlights the latest discoveries in algicolous endophytic research, with particular focus on the bioactive metabolites from algal endophytes. Compounds are classified according to their reported biological activities, like anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties. Present experimental evidence suggests that a majority of the bioactive metabolites were reported from Phaeophyceae followed by Rhodophyceae and Chlorophyceae. An intensive search for newer and more effective bioactive metabolites has generated a treasure trove of publications, and this review partially covers the literature published up to 2016.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.252-258
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• 2016

In this study, endophytic fungi were isolated from the leaves of five species of woody plants in Jeju, Korea, namely Chamaecyparis obtusa, Cryptomeria japonica, Torreya nucifera, Ilex crenata, and Camellia japonica. The isolated fungal endophytes were identified based on their morphological and molecular characteristics including a sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and 26S regions of rDNA and ${\beta}$-tubulin genes. Ten species of fungal endophytes have not been previously reported in Korea, namely Mycosphaerella aleuritidis, Neofusicoccum eucalyptorum, Neofusicoccum parvum, Phyllosticta citrichinensis, Phyllosticta cryptomeriae, Phomopsis cotoneastri, Sphaerulina rhododendricola, Guignardia mangiferae, Lophodermium jiangnanense, and Lophodermium minus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1680-1687
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• 2020

Fungal endophytes are symbiotic microorganisms that are often found in asymptomatic plants. This study describes the genetic diversity of the fungal endophytes isolated from the roots of plants sampled from the west coast of Korea. Five halophytic plant species, Limonium tetragonum, Suaeda australis, Suaeda maritima, Suaeda glauca Bunge, and Phragmites australis, were collected from a salt marsh in Gochang and used to isolate and identify culturable, root-associated endophytic fungi. The fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 was used as the DNA barcode for the classification of these specimens. In total, 156 isolates of the fungal strains were identified and categorized into 23 genera and two phyla (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota), with Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes as the predominant classes. The genus Alternaria accounted for the largest number of strains, followed by Cladosporium and Fusarium. The highest diversity index was obtained from the endophytic fungal group associated with the plant P. australis. Waito-C rice seedlings were treated with the fungal culture filtrates to analyze their plant growth-promoting capacity. A bioassay of the Sm-3-7-5 fungal strain isolated from S. maritima confirmed that it had the highest plant growth-promoting capacity. Molecular identification of the Sm-3-7-5 strain revealed that it belongs to Alternaria alternata and is a producer of gibberellins. These findings provided a fundamental basis for understanding the symbiotic interactions between plants and fungi.

• Mycobiology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.303-310
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• 2015

The increasing emergence of lead drugs for the resistance produced by the pathogenic strains and arrival of new diseases have initiated the need for searching novel metabolites with best anticancer and antimicrobial properties than the existing one. With this view, the investigation was conducted for the isolation, identification, and biological evaluation of potential endophytic fungi of Aegle marmelos, a medicinal tree used for more than three decades, for curing various disorders. A total of 169 endophytic fungal strains obtained from sampling and among those 67 were pigmented strains. Upon antagonistic screening, five endophytic fungal strains exhibited antagonistic potentiality by inhibiting the pathogens. These five potent strains were characterized at molecular level by sequencing the amplified internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1 and ITS 4 regions of rDNA and they were grouped under order Pleosporales, Eurotiales, and Capnodiales. The metabolites from the respective strains were produced in fungal culturing media and extracted using polar solvents. Further, the extracts of five endophytes manifested antimicrobial activity against tested clinical pathogens and Alternaria alternata (FC39BY), Al. citrimacularis (FC8ABr), and Curvularia australiensis (FC2AP) exhibited significant antimicrobial profile against 9 of 12 tested pathogens, showing broad spectrum activity. The antioxidant levels of all the five endophytes revealed the highest activity at least concentrations, and major activity was unveiled by the members of order Pleosporales FC2AP and FC8ABr. This research explains the value of endophytic fungal extracts and its significance of antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.325-339
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• 2022

Endophytes ascertain a symbiotic relationship with plants as promoters of growth, defense mechanism etc. This study is a first report to screen the endophytic population in Waltheria indica, a tropical medicinal plant. 5 bacterial and 3 fungal strains in leaves, 3 bacterial and 1 yeast species in stems were differentiated morphologically and identified by biochemical and molecular methods. The phylogenetic tree of the isolated endophytes was constructed using MEGA X. Silver nanoparticles were biosynthesized from a rare endophytic bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans isolated from the leaf of W. indica. The formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by UV-Visible spectrophotometer that evidenced a strong absorption band at 408.5 nm of UV-Visible range with crystalline nature and average particle size of 16.4 nm by Particle size analyzer. The Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrum displayed the presence of various functional groups that stabilized the nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction peaks were conferred to face centered cubic structure. Transmission Electron Microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope revealed the spherical-shaped, polycrystalline nature with the presence of elemental silver analyzed by Energy Dispersive of X-Ray spectrum. Selected area electron diffraction also confirmed the orientation of AgNPs at 111, 200, 220, 311 planes similar to X-ray diffraction analysis. The synthesized nanoparticles are evaluated for antimicrobial activity against 7 bacterial and 3 fungal pathogens. A good zone of inhibition was observed against pathogenic bacteria than fungal pathogens. Thus the study could hold a key aspect in drug discovery research and other pharmacological conducts of human clinical conditions.

• Mycobiology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2012

In the present study, an attempt to evaluate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of fungal endophytes inhabiting $Emblica$ $officinalis$ has been made keeping in view the medicinal importance of the selected host plant in Indian traditional practices. A total of four endophytic fungi belonging to Phylum Ascomycetes were isolated from different parts of the plant which were characterized morphologically and by using rDNA-internal transcribed spacer. The most frequently isolated endophyte was $Phomopsis$ sp. The antioxidant activity by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and reducing power assay, and total phenol were evaluated using ethanolic extract of endophytic fungi. DPPH activities in all the ethanolic extract increased with the increase in concentrations. Endophytes, $Phomopsis$ sp. and $Xylaria$ sp. showed highest antioxidant activity and also had the higher levels of phenolics. Antimicrobial activity of fungal extract were tested against four bacteria namely, $Escherichia$ $coli$ MTCC730, $Enteroccocus$ $faecalis$ MTCC2729, $Salmonella$ $enterica$ ser. $paratyphi$ MTCC735 and $Streptococcus$ $pyogenes$ MTCC1925, and the fungus $Candida$ $albicans$ MTCC183. In general, the fungal extracts inhibited the growth of test organisms except $E.$ $coli$.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2016

The biodiversity of endophytic fungi on Thuja koraiensis in Mt. Hwaak, Seorak, and Hambaek, Korea was investigated. For the 202 isolates collected from the host trees, internal transcribed spacer rDNA region sequences-based analysis identified 32 taxa; 61.5% of the isolates belonged to Dothideomycetes, 27.0% belonged to Sordariomycetes, and 11.5% belonged to Leotiomycetes. This composition rate is somewhat different from that reported in previous studies for endophytic fungi inhabiting trees of the family Pinaceae. In particular, Phyllosticta spinarum in Dothideomycetes is a dominant species among the diverse endophytes of T. koraiensis. Therefore, further critical research is required for this species.