Emphasis is on endophytes isolated from higher plants including mangroves, as well as on fungi associated with marine algae or invertebrates. The review is a continuation of our earlier reports dealing with bioactive metabolites recovered from endophytes and marine derived fungi (Aly et al. 2010a,b; Debbab et al. 2011). All compounds are grouped according

to their biological activities including cytotoxic, anti-infective, radical scavenging, enzyme inhibition, anti-fouling and anti-parasitic activities. check details In total 178 compounds, comprising 138 new natural products, are presented. In addition, new insights on fungal-host interaction, communication, and potential ecological roles recently published for endophytic and marine-derived fungi, as well as new strategies for manipulating biosynthetic genes and triggering the production of novel secondary metabolites by fungi are presented. Endophytic fungal-host interaction Fungal associations with land plants date back from early evolutionary times. Examination of thin petrographic sections of a 400 million year old Selleckchem AR-13324 Rhynie chert plant, Nothia aphylla, showed the presence of three endophytic fungal species in root tissues

(Krings et al. 2007). Like any form of symbiosis, fungal-host interactions are extremely variable with respect to their impact on both partners. In most cases the fungal partner exploits resources from the associated host through a parasitic or commensal interaction, whereas in mutualistic JIB04 interactions the host is able to take advantage of the inhabiting fungus in return. It is believed that co-evolution of endophytes and their host plants influence natural products patterns of both partners, probably affecting endophyte-host communication and host adaptation to environmental challenges (Gunatilaka 2006).

Endophytic fungi have been found in every plant species examined to date, where they spend all or part of their life cycle residing asymptomatically within plant tissues (Saikkonen et PIK3C2G al. 1998). These fungi may contribute to the overall performance of host plants by improving their fitness, photosynthetic efficiency, nutrient and water use, growth rate, reproductive success, or by acting as chemical defenses against herbivores, pathogens, or competitors (Schulz and Boyle 2005; Strobel 2006; Herre et al. 2007; Singh et al. 2011), by sharing genes and secondary metabolites that allow plants to tolerate abiotic or biotic stress and thus adapt to changing environmental conditions (Barrow et al. 2008; Singh et al. 2011). They may accordingly have a significant influence on plant biogeography, evolution, and community structure in terrestrial ecosystems (Rodríguez et al. 2009).