© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Venieraki
et al.
58
and tabersonine was 1.279, 1.279mg/L, 0.102
mg/L, respectively (Na
et al
., 2016). In a simi-
lar study, 10 endophytic fungal strains were
isolated from the roots, stems and leaves of
the plant
V. minor
. One fungal strain isolat-
ed from the stems was found to produce
vincamine although with a relatively lower
yield as compared to that of another fungal
strain isolated from
N. indicum
(Yin and Sun,
2011).
Rheum palmatum L. (Polygonaceae)
Rheum palmatum
is a medicinal plant
and its air-dried roots have been used in
the traditional medicine.
R. palmatum
pres-
ents cathartic effect on the digestive move-
ment of the colon, protects the damaged
liver, and has antibacterial, anti-inflamma-
tion, and anti-aging properties. The most ef-
fective biologically active compounds in the
roots of the genus
Rheum
are anthraquino-
nes including emodin, rhein, physcion, al-
oe-emodin. Pharmacological tests revealed
that rhein can alleviate pain and fever and
inhibits inflammation (You
et al
., 2013).
Fourteen endophytic fungal strains have
been isolated from
R. palmatum
: 12 strains
were isolated from the root, 2 strains from
the stem. The strain R13, isolated from the
roots, was capable to produce the bioactive
compounds rhein and emodin. The yield of
rhein in R13 can reach 5.67 mg/L (You
et al
.,
2013).
Forsythia
suspensa
(Thunb.)
Vahl.
(Oleaceae)
The main chemical constituents of
F. sus-
pensa
are composed of lignans including
phillyrin and forsythiaside, triterpenic ac-
ids including oleanolic acid and ursolic acid.
Phillyrin was reported to have various bio-
logical activities such as antioxidant, anti-in-
flammatory, anti-hyperlipidemia and anti-
pyretic activities (Qu
et al
., 2008). Studies on
phillyrin have shown its presence mainly in
the leaves and fruits of the plant
F. suspensa
(Piao
et al
., 2008).
A total of 24 fungal strains were isolated
from stems, leaves and fruits of
F. suspensa
and screened for phylirin production. One
strain
Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
isolat-
ed from the fruits was found to produce the
active constituent phillyrin as was judged by
TLC, HPLC and HPLC-MS analysis (Zhang
et
al
., 2012).
Miquelia dentata Bedd. (Icacinaceae),
Camptotheca acuminata Decne. (Nys-
saceae) and Nothapodytes nimmoniana
(Graham) Mabb. (Icacinaceae)
Camptothecine (CPT), a quinoline indole
alkaloid and its analog, 10-hydroxy camp-
tothecine (10-OH-CPT) are potent inhibitors
of the eukaryotic topoisomerase I and are
currently used as efficient anticancer drugs
against a broad band of tumor types such
as small lung and refractory ovarian can-
cers. (Kai
et al
., 2015). CPT and 10-OH-CPT
are naturally produced by several plant spe-
cies of the Asterid clade. Among them how-
ever, the major sources of commercial CPT
in the world market are
Camptotheca acum-
inata
and
Nothapodytes nimmoniana
(Uma
Shaanker
et al
., 2008). Exceptional high lev-
els of CPT and 10-OH-CPT are also found
in the fruits and seeds of
Miquelia dentata
(Ramesha
et al
., 2013).
Twenty-three fungal isolates were ob-
tained from different fruit parts of
M. denta-
ta
. All fungal isolates produced CPT though
in varying quantities (Shweta
et al
., 2013).
Three fungal species,
A. alternata
,
Phomop-
sis
sp. and
Fomitopsis
sp., were identified as
CPT
-
producers with the highest yield of CPT
being obtained from
A. alternata
(73.9 μg/g
DW) (Shweta
et al
., 2013). CPT-producing en-
dophytic fungi have also been isolated from
C. acuminata
(Pu
et al
., 2013) and
N. nimmo-
niana
(Bhalkar
et al
., 2016).
Biochemical convergence or horizontal
gene transfer confer the ability to the
endophytic fungi to produce the same
bioactive compounds as their host
The discovery of endophytic fungi pro-
ducing the same or similar bioactive com-
pounds as their hosts
raises the question as
to whether parallel pathways evolved sim-
