2015b). Solanioic acid has a highly functionalized and rearranged steroidal carbon
skeleton and is a potent antibiotic, active at 1μg/mL against MRSA. The endo-
phyticAspergillusstrain CY725 andRhizoctoniasp. strain Cy064 isolated from the
leaves ofCynodon dactylon, have afforded antimicrobial helvolic acid, rhizoctonic
acid, monomethylsulochrin and ergosterol (Li et al. 2005 ; Ma et al. 2004 ).
Paspalum conjugatumharbored an endophyticMicrothyriaceaesp. which con-
tained a known mycotoxin sterigmatocystin which exhibited antiparasitic activity
againstTrypanosoma cruzi, with an IC 50 value of 0.13μmol L−^1 and a novel
polyketide integrasone B (Almeida et al. 2014 ).
Mangrove forests are considered as biodiversity‘hotspots’for marine-derived
fungi (Shearer et al. 2007 ). This is mainly because, the permanently and inter-
mittently submerged mangrove trunks and aerating roots are host to terrestrial,
marine and an overlap of terrestrial and marine fungi (Sarma and Hyde 2001 ;
Shearer et al. 2007 ). According to Schmit and Shearer ( 2003 ), 106 fungi have been
reported from mangrove habitats in the Atlantic Ocean, while 173 and 128 are
documented from Pacific and Indian Ocean mangroves, respectively. Among the
mangrove-derived fungal community, the fungal endophytes play an important role
protecting their host against various aggressions (Cheng et al. 2009 ). According to
reports more than 200 species of endophytic fungi have been isolated and identified
from mangrove plants and dominant among them are species of Alternaria,
Aspergillus,Cladosporium,Colletotrichum,Fusarium,Paecilamyces,Penicillium,
Pestalotiopsis,Phoma,Phomopsis,Phyllosticta,andTrichoderma(Liu et al. 2007 ).
Mangrove-derived endophytic fungi are believed to contribute to their hosts’ability
to adapt to endure the extreme habitat conditions (Debbab et al. 2013 ). In addition,
these mangrove endophytic fungi are proven to be a promising source of struc-
turally unique natural products, and drug leads with remarkable bioactivities (Tan
et al. 2008 ). Cytosporone B(25)is such a novel natural product, isolated from an
endophyticDothiorellasp. from mangrove plantAvicennia marinaat an estuary in
China, with broad antifungal activities againstA. niger, Trichodermasp. and
Fusariumsp. and high activity against human epidermal carcinoma and several
other cell lines (Xu et al. 2005 ). Recent report of two new antibacteriala-pyrone
derivatives, infectopyrones A(26)and B (27)from the mangrove endophytic
fungus,Stemphylium sp. isolated from a Brguiera sp. also demonstrates the
potential of mangrove endophytes to produce bioactive chemical scaffolds (Zhou
et al. 2014 ). Two new compounds pinazaphilones B and (±)-penifupyrone with
significanta-glucosidase inhibitory activity have been discovered from a mangrove
endophyticPenicilliumsp. isolated from the fresh branches of the mangrove plant
Cerbera manghas(Liu et al. 2015 ).
9 Endophytic Fungi: A Remarkable Source... 201