Diversity, Ecology, and Significance of Fungal Endophytes

Abstract

Fungal mutualistic association with plant species has become one of the important emerging contemporary issues in biology. Non-mycorrhizal endophytic fungal studies have multifold interest owing to their basic and applied value. Various tissues (leaf, stem, bark, seed, root, rhizome, and tuber) of a wide array of phototrophs (forest trees, plantations, shrubs, medicinal plants, vegetables, macrophytes, seaweeds, seagrass, ferns, and orchids) occurring in different ecosystems (terrestrial, riparian, freshwaters, mangroves, marine, marshes, and coastal sand dunes) have attracted the attention of researchers. The main focus of such interest is to understand their coevolution, life history, lifestyle, diversity, ecology, stress tolerance, natural products, biological control, bioprospects, and bioremediation. Climate change and anthropogenic interference on biodiversity have dramatic impact on the mutualistic association between plant species and endophytic fungi. The purpose of this review is to provide a brief overview on endophytic fungal studies carried out in different plant species, ecological perspectives, methods, and applications in different fields.