Bioprospecting for secondary metabolites of family Botryosphaeriaceae from a biotechnological perspective

Abstract

Fungal members in the family Botryosphaeriaceae (genus: Lasiodiplodia; teleomorph stage: Botryosphaeria) exhibit diverse ecological and cosmopolitan distribution by infecting a broad range of host plants of both tropical and subtropical biotopes. Botryosphaeriaceae harbors as an endophyte within seeds and other living tissues or survives as a soil-borne saprophyte or as a latent stress-induced pathogen causing dieback, blight, leaf spots, fruit and root rots, gummosis, and canker diseases in perennial fruit and nut trees, vegetable crops, and ornamental plants. The dynamism of these pathogens is evident based on their ubiquitous presence in a broad range of niches and host plants, suggesting their functional role to produce diverse hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes which are of biotechnological and industrial relevance. This chapter also focuses attention on the repertoire of chemically and structurally diverse secondary metabolites, which include small bioactive molecules, taxol/paclitaxel, exopolysaccharides (EPS), etc. A number of case studies on different metabolites produced by different members of genus Lasiodiplodia that find application in medicine, food industry, agriculture, etc. are also presented.