Endophytes Crop Productivity and Protection Volume 2 (Sustainable Development and Biodiversity)

N N

O

O

OH

CH 3

OH

S

H S

(28)

N N

O

O

OH

CH 3

OH

H

SCH 3

SCH 3

(29)

N

H

HN

O

H

OO

O OH

(30)

N

H

HN

O

H

OO

(31) O O

Among the vast diversity of marine-derived fungi are endophytic fungi from

macro-algae, sea grasses and other marine plants. Most of these fungi belong to

class Ascomycota and their distribution is governed by plant metabolites, temper-

ature, salinity and pH (Ji and Wang 2016 ). These fungi are proven to be prolific

producers of huge array of bioactive natural products. Up to date more than 300

natural products have been identified from endophytic fungi of marine macro-algae.

From the published natural products 43% were reported novel compounds with

various biological activities such as antioxidant, anticancer, antiplaspodial, and

antimicrobial (Flewelling et al. 2015 ). Among the novel antimicrobial metabolites

are Asperamide A, B ( 32 , 33 ), Asporyzin A-C ( 34 – 36 ) and Asperversin A ( 37 ),

from endophytic Aspergillus spp., isolated from Colpomenia sinuosa,

Heterosiphonia japonica,andSargassum thunbergii,respectively (Zhang et al.

2007 ; Qiao et al. 2010 ; Miao et al. 2012 ). Myrocin A ( 38 ) and asperwentin A-C

( 39 – 41 ) are some of the anticancer compounds isolated fromApiospora montagnei

from Polsiphonia violacea and Aspergillus wentii from Sargassum fusiforme

(Klemke et al. 2004 ; Miao et al. 2014 ). Three 2-pyridone alkaloids, the known

N-hydroxy-2-pyridone PF1140 ( 42 ), and two new 2-pyridones 43 and 44 have been

isolated from aPenicilliumspecies associated with the New Zealand marine brown

algaeXiphophora gladiata(de Silva et al. 2009 ). PF1140 was active againstB.

subtilisandC. albicansand to that of murine leukemia P388 cells. Both 43 and 44

were inactive pointing to the importance of the presence of the N–OH functionality

meant for bioactivity.

9 Endophytic Fungi: A Remarkable Source... 203