The endophytic penicillium strains: A gold mine of natural products (2010-2024)

Abstract

Endophytes are an attractive source of natural products with distinctive structures that can aid in the treatment of life-altering disorders because of the complexity and structural variety of the secondary metabolites that they produce. The genus Penicillium, which belongs to family Aspergillaceae, class Eurotiomycetes has received more attention due to the isolation of various classes of compounds with unique structures mainly such as alkaloids, amides, ceramides, naphthoquinone derivatives, sterols, tetracyclic triterpenes, penostatins, phenalenones, phenolic compounds, diphenyl ethers, glycerol derivatives, cytochalasan derivatives, pyrone and pyrrolidine derivatives. They exhibited diverse biological activities as: anticancer, antimicrobial, cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective. This review focuses on the isolated secondary metabolites from genus Penicillium, the source of the strains and the biological potential of isolated secondary metabolites. It covers the literature from 2010 to 2024.