Exploring the potential of fungal endophytes: A quintessential source for novel secondary metabolites and beneficial aspects

Natural resources offer a great opportunity for the discovery of new biological agents in drug development research. Microorganism associated secondary bioactive compounds have had a huge impact on the discovery of several clinically approved antibiotics. Microbial endophytes hosted in plants experience continuous metabolic interactions between the host and endophyte. This habitat for endophytes is helpful in biological conversion and therefore has the potential to synthesize new bioactive metabolites. Endophytic fungi are a potent source of biologically active secondary metabolites used to develop pharmaceutical products and novel applications. Fungal endophytes inhabit internal tissues of plants without causing disease. This chapter explores the applications of bioactive metabolites associated with fungal endophytes and offers an integrative account of their beneficial aspects. In addition, diverse reports on bioactive metabolites from fungal endophytes as potential drugs are presented and discussed. This chapter examines directions in which to explore endophytic fungal applications with regard to bioactive secondary metabolites.