Chemical Diversity and Biological Activities of Anthraquinones Derived from Marine Fungi: A Comprehensive Update

Marine microorganisms took excessive attention as prolific producers of structurally unique secondary metabolites, offering a promising potential as substitutes or conjugates for the current therapeutics. Given the fact that various fungal species have the potential to produce secondary metabolites, only a small share of bioactive natural products have been identified from marine microorganisms thus far, we are confident that existing research has only scratched the surface in terms of secondary metabolites diversity and potential industrial applications. Anthraquinones derived from filamentous fungi are a distinct large group of polyketides containing compounds of the quinone family which feature a common 9,10-dioxoanthracene core. A considerable number of reported anthraquinones and their derivatives have shown tremendous biological activities as well as highly economical, commercial, and biomedical potentialities such as anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. Accordingly, and in this context, this review comprehensively covers the state-of-art over 20 years about 208 structurally diverse anthraquinones and their derivatives isolated from different species of marine-derived fungal genera along with their reported bioactivity wherever applicable. Also, in this manuscript, we will present recent insights centred on their biosynthetic routes.