Biosynthetic potential of endophytic fungi from tropical medicinal plants: genomic and metabolomic perspectives

The investigation of endophytic fungi from tropical medicinal plants is increasingly conducted due to their ability to produce diverse bioactive secondary metabolites, including polyketides, non-ribosomal peptides, terpenoids, and alkaloids with significant pharmaceutical potential. These compounds are synthesized through biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), such as polyketide synthases (PKSs), non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), and hybrid PKS-NRPS systems. However, although systematic prediction of BGCs has advanced, experimental validation of their corresponding metabolites in tropical endophytic fungi remains limited. This mini-review focuses on tropical medicinal plants, highlighting the biosynthetic diversity and pharmaceutical relevance of their endophytic fungi, and recent advances in genomics and metabolomics. Applications of untargeted metabolomics and genome mining (e.g., antiSMASH and BiG-SCAPE) have improved the detection of cryptic and silent gene clusters. In addition, synthetic biology and epigenetic approaches have enabled activation of dormant biosynthetic pathways. Nevertheless, challenges remain in metabolite dereplication, enhancing in vitro BGC expression, and sustainable bioprospecting.