Antifungal Natural Products Originating from Endophytic and Rhizospheric Microbes Isolated from Coastal Vegetation

Abstract

Candida infections severely impact patients who are immunocompromised. Currently, there are limited options to treat fungal infections, especially drug-resistant-fungal infections. Therefore, investigating alternative or repurposed antifungals is paramount. Endophytic microbes (EMs) and rhizospheric microbes (RMs) emerge as promising reservoirs of bioactive natural compounds. Interestingly, plants that have adapted to various environmental conditions harbour a plethora of microbes producing a variety of bioactive natural products that can be assessed for potential antifungal activity. To date, EMs and RMs residing in coastal plants and their associated antifungals have not been extensively studied or reviewed. Therefore, this comprehensive review will focus on antifungal natural products, extracted from coastal-vegetation-associated microbiota to draw the attention of research in this field. A comprehensive literature search was conducted by examining both Scopus and Google Scholar databases during the period of 2013–2024 related to the following coastal vegetation: mangroves, sand dune plants, salt marsh plants, and seagrasses. To date, 65 novel antifungal compounds derived from coastal-plant EMs and RMs have been identified. Mangroves were found to be the most prominent host harbouring antifungal-producing EMs and RMs compared with other coastal plants. Coastal-plant-associated fungal partners were the most prominent producers of antifungals compared to their bacterial counterparts. Fifty-four fungal-EM/RM derived antifungals have been reported to demonstrate activities against plant pathogenic fungi as well as human fungal pathogens. Most of the bacterial-derived antifungals (11 antifungals) have previously been reported to have antifungal activity against Candida albicans.