Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
that Occur in Medicinal Plants
Mahendra Rai,
1
* Dnyaneshwar Rathod,
1
Avinash Ingle,
1
Peter Proksch
2
and Kateryna Kon
3
1
Department of Biotechnology, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, India;
2
Institut für Pharmazeutische Biologie und Biotechnologie,
Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf;
3
Department of Microbiology,
Virology, and Immunology, Kharkiv National
Medical University, Ukraine
5.1
Introduction
beneficial relationship (symbiosis) with the
host plants, whereas others are opportunistic
pathogens. Petrini
et al
. (1992) reported that
there may be more than one type of mycoen-
dophyte present in a single plant. For exam-
ple, 13 taxa of mycoendophyte were isolated
from the leaf, stem and root tissues of
Catharanthus roseus
(Kharwar
et al
., 2008).
Zhao
et al
. (2011) reported that mycoendo-
phytes are fungi that expend the whole or
part of their life cycle intercellularly and/or
intracellularly colonizing healthy plant tis-
sues, causing no apparent symptoms of dis-
ease. Petrini (1991) predicted that there are
more than one million fungal endophytes
existing in nature. Plant endophytic fungi
have been recognized as an important and
novel resource of natural bioactive products
with potential applications in agriculture,
medicine and the food industry (Strobel
et al
., 2004; Gunatilaka, 2006; Verma, 2009).
Herre
et al
. (2007) demonstrated that
mycoendophytes play a potentially important
mutualistic role by augmenting the host defence
response against pathogens. Endophytes may
contribute to host protection by increasing the
expression of intrinsic host defence mecha-
nisms and/or providing additional sources of
Endophytes are microbes (fungi or bacteria)
that live within the plant tissues without
causing any noticeable symptoms of disease
(Tejesvi
et al
., 2007). Mycoendophytes have
been found in healthy tissues of all the plant
taxa studied to date. Stierle
et al.
(1993) dis-
covered the 'goldmine' bioactive compound
paclitaxel (taxol) from the endophytic fungus
Taxomyces andreanae
isolated from
Taxus
brevifolia. T. brevifolia
is a member of family
Taxaceae and native to the north-western
USA. The taxol, a natural product of
T. brevi-
folia,
has been used in the treatment of can-
cer. The isolation of taxol from
Pestalotiopsis
microspora
, an endophyte of
Taxus wallichi-
ana
, and the phytohormone gibberellin from
Gibberella fujikuroi
in rice plants, underline
the potential of endophytes as a source of
useful metabolites (Gehlot
et al
., 2008).
Subsequently, several scientists have studied
fungal endophytes as potential source of
novel and biologically active compounds.
Endophytes invade the tissues of living
plants and reside in the tissues between liv-
ing plant cells (Vanessa and Christopher,
2004). Some endophytes form a mutually
* E-mail: mkrai123@rediffmail.com
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