Fungos endofíticos de plantas medicinais Amazônicas como fonte de moléculas bioativas

Abstract

Endophytic fungi are a substantial fraction of the fungal community, being described in all plants already studied, it is estimated that there are about 1 million endophytic fungi. Allied to this, we have the emergence of new viruses, resistant bacteria, infection problems caused by fungi, and recurrent diseases in transplant patients, in addition to the growing number of cases of cancer, thus increasing the demand for new compounds with pharmacological, chemical and biological potential. Thus, the growing interest in exploring endophytic fungi and their bioactive secondary metabolites, especially those associated with medicinal plants, comes from their ability to produce compounds similar to their host plant, and other secondary compounds with relevant biological activity. Although studies on the subject are incipient, the Brazilian ecosystem proves to be a great source for obtaining fungi from medicinal plants, either because of the great variety of plants that the country has or because of the high rate of endemism. The Amazon biome stands out among the others for being the largest Brazilian biome, with unique vegetative characteristics; for having few studies about the fungal diversity of regional species, we have an underutilized raw material, making it necessary to search for compounds in order to obtain new chemical structures of pharmacological importance. In the present work, a survey of published works on the subject was carried out, including the Amazonian medicinal species, endophytic fungi isolated from them and their respective bioactive molecules, as a result, a small number of works were found in view of the available plant diversity, being further studies are needed to elucidate the fungal biodiversity of the biome.