Natural Product Diversity and Functional Roles of 1Penicillium Endophytes from Medicinal Plants

Endophytic fungus are widely distributed in medicinal plants and the Penicillium species that recovered from plant tissues directly provide an attractive resource of structurally and biologically diverse natural products. For the sake of clarity, in this review only Penicillium strains derived from medicinal plants are discussed, while isolate originating entirely from soil, rhizosphere or other environmental samples were not included. We discuss the part of medicinal plants (root, stem, leaf, seed, bark) isolated from endophytes or the reported biological activities of endophyte derived compounds during the decade 2010 ‐ 2024. Some of these strains have also shown to have plant growth promoting characteristics and to enhance the host plants survival under conditions of stress. In total, over 100 Penicillium endophytes have been described from the contents of this review with 210 bioactive compounds having reported an array of pharmacological and agrochemical uses including antimicrobial, antifungal, anticancer, neuroprotective, antifibrotic, antiparasitic and other biocontrol activities. We also report the 3enzymatic potential of these isolates. Moreover we provide a library of 181 compounds newly isolated from these fungi and that have not been previously associated with a bioactivity. This study reveals strong metabolic potential of medicinal plants endophytic Penicillium, exposing its increasing importance for drug development and sustainable agricultural uses. Keywords: Medicinal plant, Penicillium sp, bioactive compounds, biological activity