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Fungal Endophytes: an Accessible Source of Bioactive Compounds with Potential Anticancer Activity

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Abstract

Endophytes either be bacteria, fungi, or actinomycetes colonize inside the tissue of host plants without showing any immediate negative effects on them. Among numerous natural alternative sources, fungal endophytes produce a wide range of structurally diverse bioactive metabolites including anticancer compounds. Considering the production of bioactive compounds in low quantity, genetic and physicochemical modification of the fungal endophytes is performed for the enhanced production of bioactive compounds. Presently, for the treatment of cancer, chemotherapy is majorly used, but the side effects of chemotherapy are of prime concern in clinical practices. Also, the drug-resistant properties of carcinoma cells, lack of cancer cells-specific medicine, and the side effects of drugs are the biggest obstacles in cancer treatment. The interminable requirement of potential drugs has encouraged researchers to seek alternatives to find novel bioactive compounds, and fungal endophytes seem to be a probable target for the discovery of anticancer drugs. The present review focuses a comprehensive literature on the major fungal endophyte-derived bioactive compounds which are presently been used for the management of cancer, biotic factors influencing the production of bioactive compounds and about the challenges in the field of fungal endophyte research.

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Acknowledgements

NR would like to thank the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India, for the Junior Research Fellowship. PG and PKK would like to thank the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) India for Junior Research Fellowship under Empowerment and Equity Opportunities for Excellence in Science (EMEQ) scheme (EEQ/2019/000025). AV would like to thank the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India, for the Junior Research Fellowship.

Funding

This work is funded by a Start-up grant from University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India to Dr. Vibhav Gautam. The VG laboratory is also supported by the SERB-EMEQ project (EEQ/2019/000025) and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India Institution of Eminence Seed Grant.

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  1. Nilesh Rai, Priyamvada Gupta and Priyanka Kumari Keshri contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, 221005, Varanasi, India

    Nilesh Rai, Priyamvada Gupta, Priyanka Kumari Keshri, Ashish Verma, Santosh Kumar Singh & Vibhav Gautam

  2. Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics Kemihuset (K), Umeå Universitet, Umeå Campus, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Pradeep Mishra

  3. Department of Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, 221005, Varanasi, India

    Deepak Kumar

  4. Department of Zoology, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, 221005, Varanasi, India

    Ajay Kumar

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  1. Nilesh Rai
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NR, PG and PKK wrote and compiled the manuscript. AV, PM, DK, AK and SKS revised the manuscript. Study and entire writing of the manuscript was supervised by VG (from the compilation of the first draft to the final draft).

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Rai, N., Gupta, P., Keshri, P.K. et al. Fungal Endophytes: an Accessible Source of Bioactive Compounds with Potential Anticancer Activity. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 194, 3296–3319 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-022-03872-1

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