Impact of Endosymbionts on Antimicrobial Properties of Medicinal Plants
Mahendra Rai, Chistiane M. Feitosa in Eco-Friendly Biobased Products Used in Microbial Diseases, 2022
The presence of microorganisms found within a plant was defined by the German botanist Heinrich Anton de Bary (1866), who also introduced the term ‘epiphytes’ and ‘endophytes’ (referring to those microorganisms living on the surface or living inside the plant tissue, respectively) (de Bary 1866). However, the first endophyte discovery was made only 38 years later (1904) in the Eurasian darnel ryegrass (Lolium temulentum) (Freeman 1904). Since then, the use of the word ‘endophyte’ has been expanded to invoke all those microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, archaea, etc.) that inhabit the intra- or intercellular parts of the plant, for at least a period of its life cycle, without causing apparent damage (no symptoms of disease) to its host (Wilson 1995; Hardoim et al. 2015; Gupta et al. 2020).
Diversity of Endophytes and Biotechnological Potential
Luzia Valentina Modolo, Mary Ann Foglio in Brazilian Medicinal Plants, 2019
The term “endophyte” is derived from the Greek whereby “endon” means within, and “phyton” means plant. Thus, endophytes comprise microorganisms that for part of their life colonize plants tissues without causing any damage to the host or disease symptoms (Hardoim et al., 2015). However, the interaction between endophytes and their hosts depends on several aspects, such as environmental, biological, chemical and physiological characteristics (Jia et al., 2016; Rajamanikyam et al., 2017). Some studies have shown that the host plant and the interactions between other microorganisms can balance this symbiotic relationship (Jalgaonwala et al., 2012), which can be disrupted, and the symptoms of the disease can occur due to endophytic virulence factors or due to mechanisms of host defense (Kusari et al., 2012).
Plant-Based Secondary Metabolites for Health Benefits
Hafiz Ansar Rasul Suleria, Megh R. Goyal, Masood Sadiq Butt in Phytochemicals from Medicinal Plants, 2019
There is an urgent need for the development of effective, novel pharmaceutical agent or lead structures from natural products using the novel screening systems based on genetic information. To date, the increased access to the plants has increased the discovery of many vital phytomolecules and still a lot of phytomolecules are to be discovered from the natural products.27 There are certain areas that are still not well explored, such as the marine flora, especially marine-sourced fungi, which possibly will play a significant role in the future. In the future, researches on plant endophytes have huge potential in the field of therapeutics as well as nutraceuticals. The introduction of nanotechnology and synthetic chemists has also provided strong support for developing novel molecules, drugs, and nutraceuticals eliminating challenges, such as poor bioavailability.23,27,93
Echinacea biotechnology: advances, commercialization and future considerations
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2018
Jessica L. Parsons, Stewart I. Cameron, Cory S. Harris, Myron L. Smith
Endophytes, microbial species that colonize plants without causing disease symptoms, are associated with almost all plants on Earth. Endophytes can be isolated from all parts of field-grown Echinacea, including the seeds, leaves, stems and roots. The most common fungal genera in the roots of Echinacea include Glomus, Cladosporium, Alternaria and Fusarium (Lata et al. 2006; Araim et al. 2009; Zubek and Błaszkowski 2009; Rosa et al. 2012; Moszczyńska et al. 2013). Endophytes form symbiotic relationships with the plant, using photosynthesized sugars for nutrition, in turn helping the plant to uptake nutrients (particularly nitrogen), and defend against herbivores and pathogenic microbes (Arnold and Lutzoni 2007; Aly et al. 2011). Plants colonized with endophytic fungi are less often infected by pathogens, show increased growth rates, and have improved stress tolerance (Saikkonen et al. 1998; Lata et al. 2006; Araim et al. 2009; Zubek and Błaszkowski 2009; Gualandi et al. 2014). Notably, colonization with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi impacts phytochemical content, increasing CADs in the roots of E. purpurea (Araim et al. 2009). The mechanism of this effect in Echinacea is unknown, and could potentially be attributed to increased uptake of nutrients, elicitation of the plant’s defense response (including PAL up-regulation), or production of bioactive compounds by the endophytes, among other explanations. Nevertheless, manipulation of field grown plants to encourage specific endophytes may increase yields of secondary metabolites.
Green synthesis of ZnO-NPs using endophytic fungal extract of Xylaria arbuscula from Blumea axillaris and its biological applications
Published in Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 2023
Lavanya Nehru, Gayathri Devi Kandasamy, Vanaraj Sekar, Mohammed Ali Alshehri, Chellasamy Panneerselvam, Abdulrahman Alasmari, Preethi Kathirvel
Investigations into the production of various metal NPs including copper, silver, zinc, gold, magnesium, titanium, and alginate, have been carried out using a variety of microorganisms, particularly bacteria and fungi. Among them, fungi might be employed as the most effective biotechnological agent for the eco-friendly synthesis of nanoparticles [8]. Fungi are currently considered a good addition to the list of microorganisms utilised for the amalgamation of NPs due to their simplicity of scaling up, flexibility, biomass processing, easy maintenance, downstream handling, high efficiencies of fungal metabolites, extracellular redox proteins, and enzyme production, tolerance to higher metal concentrations, the presence of mycelia presenting an enlarged surface area, and economic viability [7,9–11]. In specific, endophytic fungi are more appropriate for the synthesis of NPs since they are capable of producing huge quantities of biomass that can withstand flow pressure and agitation, are fastidious in their growth, secrete large amounts of enzymes, and are simple to handle in downstream processing, making it simple to fabricate NPs that can be used immediately in a variety of applications [12]. Endophytes are a group of unexplored microorganisms residing within healthy plant tissues and having an array of interactions with their host plants. These endophytic organisms possess several host-distinctive traits and have several potentials for synthesising antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, insulin-mimicking, and immunosuppressive activities [12,13]. Bioactive constituents synthesised by living machinery have displayed significant potential in the therapy of several diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and infectious diseases [14].
Therapeutic potentials of endophytes for healthcare sustainability
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2021
Ayodeji O. Falade, Kayode E. Adewole, Temitope C. Ekundayo
Endophytes are microbes which grow inside plant tissues [1] and exhibit great biodiversity in nature based on endophyte–plant interactions, endophytic behavior, endophyte-plant association, endolichen-infection, endophytic compartment, endophyte infection, endophytic colonization, endophytic bacteria-algae interactions/association and endophytic competence among others [2]. A text mining of endophytic microorganisms from collections of previous studies revealed diversity of endophytes across bacterial, fungal, yeast, algae and actinomycetes groups.
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