Biotechnological potential of plant-associated endophytic fungi: hope versus hype.
The potential of endophytes, particularly endophytic fungi, capable of demonstrating desirable functional traits worth exploitation using red biotechnology is well established. However, these discoveries have not yet translated into industrial bioprocesses for commercial production of biopharmaceuticals using fungal endophytes. Here, we define the current challenges in transforming curiosity driven discoveries into industrial scale endophyte biotechnology. The possible practical, feasible, and sustainable strategies that can lead to harnessing fungal endophyte-mediated pharmaceutical products are discussed.
Institute of Environmental Research (INFU), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Chair of Environmental Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry, TU Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Strasse 6, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany. Electronic address: souvik.kusari@infu.tu-dortmund.de.
Souvik
S
Kusari
Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore 560012, Karnataka, India.
Satpal
S
Singh
Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore 560012, Karnataka, India. Electronic address: cjb@biochem.iisc.ernet.in.
Chelliah
C
Jayabaskaran
D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D060026:Endophytes / Q000502:physiology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D007218:Industrial Microbiology / Q000379:methods*; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology*; D013559:Symbiosis; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods
biosynthetic pathway; endophyte biotechnology; endophytic fungi; industrial bioprocess; plant–microbe interaction; red biotechnology; secondary metabolites; synthetic biology