Industrially important enzymes of endophytic fungi

Abstract

Endophytic fungi are a promising group of microorganisms that produce plant-associated bioactive metabolites with diverse chemical entities and structural functions including enzymes. Endophytic fungal enzymes have been gradually used in industrial production, and the production of amylase, cellulase, laccase, lipase, protein, xylanase, pectinase, phytase, and phenoxidase has been matured and industrialized. Safety and feasibility are the main keys for selective criteria of these enzymes. The ability of these fungi to produce a wide variety of enzymes makes their possible use in the most diverse fields, such as food, cosmetic, cleaning agents, biofuels, and pharmacy. Enzyme metabolites isolated from endophytic fungi exhibited various pharmacological properties, such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic activities. Besides mining the endophytic fungi for novel bioactive compounds and enzymes, new molecular studies that deal with the activation of putative pathways to produce new compounds or enzymes were carried out such as the activation of the silent biosynthetic cluster genes targeting some novel strains using the genetic engineering tools. Endophytic fungi have the ability to cause highly selective catalytic conversion of high-value compounds in an environmentally friendly manner (biotransformation), which can be important for the production of innovative bioactive molecules for food and nutrition, agriculture, and environment. The request for microbial sources is projected to witness significant growth in the near future due to their wide range of food and feed processing applications; consequently, unique endophytes with properties of biosynthesizing will represent future targets of scale-up and therapeutic studies.