Beneficial Relationships Between Fungal Endophytes and Host Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1098

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Plant Functional Components Research Center, Tobacco Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China
Interests: endophytic fungi; natural products; secondary metabolites; biological activity
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal endophytes have been found in every plant species that has been extensively studied so far. Endophytes possess a close continual metabolic interaction with their host plants, ranging from symbiotic to pathogenic. Plants can provide suitable ecological habitats for endophytes such as space and nutrients. In turn, endophytes may contribute to their host plants by synthesizing a large number of beneficial active substances. These substances include plant hormones that enhance the growth of their hosts, as well as bioactive secondary metabolites that increase the resistance to the biotic/abiotic stresses of hosts. This interaction between the endophytes and host plants is complex and mutualistic. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply investigate the interaction between the endophytes and host plants, especially the beneficial relationships that ultimately provide survival value to the plants. This Special Issue aims to focus on these beneficial relationships between endophytes and their host plants, with emphasis on the ecology of fungal endophytes, plant–endophyte interactions, and diverse secondary metabolites isolated from endophytes.

Dr. Peng Zhang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • fungal endophytes
  • plants
  • mutualism
  • secondary metabolites
  • plant hormones
  • interaction
  • ecology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 3094 KiB  
Article
Herbicidal and Antibacterial Secondary Metabolites Isolated from the Nicotiana tabacum-Derived Endophytic Fungus Aspergillus japonicus TE-739D
by Haisu Wang, Xiaolong Yuan, Xinrong Huang, Peng Zhang and Gan Gu
Plants 2025, 14(2), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14020173 - 9 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 880
Abstract
Endophytic fungi possess a unique ability to produce abundant secondary metabolites, which play an active role in the growth and development of host plants. In this study, chemical investigations on the endophytic fungus Aspergillus japonicus TE-739D derived from the cultivated tobacco (Nicotiana [...] Read more.
Endophytic fungi possess a unique ability to produce abundant secondary metabolites, which play an active role in the growth and development of host plants. In this study, chemical investigations on the endophytic fungus Aspergillus japonicus TE-739D derived from the cultivated tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) afforded two new polyketide derivatives, namely japoniones A (1) and B (2), as well as four previously reported compounds 36. Their chemical structures were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analyses and quantum chemical calculations. In the herbicidal assays on the germination and radicle growth of Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Eleusine indica seeds, compound 1 was found to inhibit the germ and radicle elongation. Notably, compound 2 showed potent herbicidal activity against A. retroflexus L. germ elongation, with an IC50 value of 43.6 μg/mL, even higher than the positive control glyphosate (IC50 = 76.0 μg/mL). Moreover, compound 4 demonstrated strong antibacterial effects against the pathogens Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis, with a comparable MIC value of 16 μg/mL to the positive control chloramphenicol. These findings indicate that the endophytic fungus A. japonicus TE-739D holds significant metabolic potential to produce bioactive secondary metabolites, which are beneficial, providing survival value to the host plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Beneficial Relationships Between Fungal Endophytes and Host Plants)
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