Bioactive Fungal Metabolites

Dear Colleagues,

Fungi are a rich source of biologically active natural compounds. They are able to produce several specialized metabolites belonging to diverse structural classes, including anthracenones, butanolides, butenolides, cytochalasans, macrolides, naphthalenones, pyrones, terpenes, aromatic compounds and amino acids. Fungi interact with plants in various ways, and each interaction originates different alterations in both partners. Pathogenic fungi can produce phytotoxins that are poisonous or toxic for plants and play an important role in plant–pathogen interactions as well as in the development of disease symptoms. Endophitic fungi colonize inner healthy plant tissues without causing disease symptoms to their hosts and are known to confer considerable benefits by producing substances that stimulate plant growth and enhance resistance to biotic and abiotic stress.

Fungi can also produce beneficial or antagonistic metabolites involved in microbe–microbe interactions. Thus, the determination of the chemical structure of bioactive metabolites and their identification is fundamental to understand their function. Furthermore, fungal bioactive metabolites display several interesting biological activities and have potential applications in different fields, such as agriculture or medicine. Considering the biodiversity of the fungal kingdom and that only a small part has been investigated for the production of bioactive compounds, it is clear that a large number of chemical structures and biological activities remain unexplored.

This Topical Collection will focus on the isolation and chemical characterization of known and new bioactive metabolites and/or the evaluation of their biological activities for potential applications in different fields.

Dr. Alessio Cimmino
Collection Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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