Endophytic Peptides - A Source of Therapeutic Agents

Endophytic peptides have been considered as potential therapeutic sources of future antibiotics because of their broad-spectrum activities and different mechanisms of action compared to the conventional antibiotics. The world human population is increasingly facing different types of health issues. For instance, emerging wide array of the drug-resistant pathogens is a health concern. Research on bioactive agents and other natural products of microbes is essential to combat antimicrobial resistance. It is necessary to find new potential antibiotics to address this problem. The use of therapeutic plants in traditional medicine is well known. The medicinal plants contain endophytes which are repositories of bioactive compounds. The natural therapeutic agents produced by endophytes do have several potential applications in the field of pharmaceutical industry. Ecomycins, Pseudomycins, Munumbicins and Xiamycins are the antibacterial, antimycotic and antiplasmodial endophytic derived bioactive agents. Among these, some are having significant antiviral properties and inhibitory activity against plant and human bacterial pathogens. Therefore, to deal with emerging drug-resistant pathogens endophytic peptides could serve as a potential source of novel antibiotics. This review focuses on the peptides derived from plant endophytes, their biological and pharmaceutical applications, and their mechanisms of action.