Endophytic fungal diversity of selected medicinal plants and their bio-potential applications

Abstract The present chapter is inscribed based on the understanding of fungal endophytes in some medicinal plants viz., Tinospora cordifolia, Adhatoda vasica and Murraya koenigii in author’s laboratory. Endophytes are a group of extremely diverse microorganisms e.g. fungi and bacteria reside within plant tissues but normally persist asymptomatic. Since, endophytes have been defined by various scientists as mutualists colonize aerial parts of living plant tissues and do not cause disease symptoms. Historically, two endophytic groups: clavicipitaceous (C) and non-clavicipitaceous (NC) have been reported with a large number of endophytic fungi based on the type of host plant species. Further, ecological interactions and difference in life history classified fungal endophytes as class II–class IV endophytes. Furthermore, endophytes are rich source of natural products exhibiting a spectrum of biological activities due to the production of diverse metabolites. In this context, various reports are available which depict isolation and identification of fungal endophytes from the plant tissues. Fungal biomass has been reported for production of bioactive metabolites and subsequently for bio-potential applications.