Endophytic Fungi as a reservoir of Lignocellulolytic Enzymes- A Review
The potential use of microorganisms as biotechnological sources of industrially important enzymes has stimulated interest in exploration of extracellular enzymatic activity in several microorganisms. Endophytic fungi are those fungi which colonize plants internally without apparent adverse effect. Endophytic fungi are relatively unexplored producers of metabolites useful to pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. As a result, the role of endophytes in production of various natural products with greater bioactivity has received increased attention. Endophytic fungi have been found to degrade lignocellulose consisting of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose with the aid of lignocellulases enzynes. This review highlights the potential of endophytic fungi for production of lignocellulases and also discusses the present status and future prospectives in this field.