Chapter 5
Endophytic Microbes: A Resource
for Producing Extracellular Enzymes
Abdul Latif Khan, Raheem Shahzad, Ahmed Al-Harrasi
and In-Jung Lee
Abstract Endophytes (fungi and bacteria) have been known to live asymptomat-
ically with plants throughout the different growth and developmental stages.
Endophytic microbes provide an additional resource to the plant due to the presence
of beneficial secondary metabolites, enzymes, and nutrients, which help the host to
combat diverse arrays of stressful conditions of biotic and abiotic stresses.
Extracellular enzymes are the product of microbial’s cell growth and perform its
function outside the cell in many biological or environmental processes. In fact,
certain category of enzymes namely, xylanases, hemicellulases, phytases, proteases,
asparaginase, cellulases, pectinases, tyrosinase, gelatinase, chitinase, amylases, etc.,
are some of the key enzymes produced by endophytic bacteria and fungi. Most of
these enzymes have been reported from endophytes living within medicinal or crop
plants, whereas they are detected through agar-based methods. The current chapter
aims to identify the sources, kinds of enzymes, and the perspectives for further
studies in their application in endophytic-based extracellular enzymes resources.
Keywords Extracellular enzymesEndophytesBacteriaFungi
Enzymes quantification
A.L. Khan (&)A. Al-Harrasi
Chair of Oman’s Medicinal Plants & Marine Natural Products, University of Nizwa, Nizwa,
Sultanate of Oman
e-mail: [email protected]
A. Al-Harrasi
e-mail: [email protected]
R. ShahzadI.-J. Lee
School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea
e-mail: [email protected]
I.-J. Lee
e-mail: [email protected]
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
D.K. Maheshwari and K. Annapurna (eds.),Endophytes: Crop Productivity
and Protection, Sustainable Development and Biodiversity 16,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-66544-3_5
95