Review
Endophytes: Recent developments in biotechnology and the potential for flavor production

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2013.03.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The potential application of endophytes in biotechnological production of flavors

  • Extensive review on volatile organic compounds and importance of endophytes

  • Present recent advances consolidating endophytes as promising biocatalysts

Abstract

The ongoing development of biotechnology-produced flavor compounds has led to the utilization of a special group of plant-associated microbes, called endophytes, which have emerged as a promising resource for new bioactive compounds. Through a long-term coexistence with their hosts, these microbes have developed powerful metabolic pathways from which numerous highly beneficial volatile organic compounds have been reported. With a focus on new potential flavor compounds, this review aims to present recent discoveries and research that points to endophytes as promising biocatalysts of the future.

Section snippets

Biotechnological flavors: general overview

The trending concept “green label” refers to the preference of consumers for ingredients and food additives that are organic/natural (Joppen, 2006). Similarly, an increasing sensitivity toward ecological systems has resulted in a demand for environmentally friendly processes, a trend that has strengthened the market for flavor compounds of biotechnological origin (Dubal, Tilkari, Momin, & Borkar, 2008).

Biotransformation catalysis can be carried out under mild conditions, such as ambient

Plant-associated microorganisms as pleasant flavor resources

Plant-associated microorganisms such as fungi are known to exist both on plant surfaces (epiphytes) and inside plant tissues (endophytes). Though epiphytes and endophytes coexist within only millimeters of each other, they are usually studied separately (Santamaría & Bayman, 2005).

Scientists studying diverse plant-associated microbes for their potential roles in the production of volatile flavor compounds have achieved interesting results. For example, Penicillium solitum, isolated from the

Endophytes: general concepts and relevance

Regarded as underexplored biocatalysts (Rodríguez et al., 2011), endophyte species are able to live inside plant tissues without inducing any apparent symptoms in their hosts; for this reason, endophytes have been receiving increasing attention from scientists since the latter part of the twentieth century (Zabalgogeazcoa, 2008). Fungi and bacteria are the most common microbes that exist as endophytes (Strobel & Daisy, 2003).

Ecosystems exhibiting the greatest plant diversity are highly

Benefits from genetic engineering and challenges to industry development

There is enormous potential for breakthroughs in aroma biotechnology through the implementation of new genetic engineering tools. Research on flavor coding genes has enabled the creation of genome databases for key species in the flavor industry (Berger, 2009). When key genes and enzymes involved in VOC pathways are determined, greater amounts of pleasant flavor compounds will be possible through the genetic manipulation of VPEs (Ezra, Skovorodnikova, Kroitor-Keren, Denisov, & Liarzi, 2009).

Conclusion

Biotechnology is considered an essential, environmentally friendly option for the discovery and production of volatile compounds of interest. Recent studies have reported endophytes as being powerful organisms capable of producing bioactive metabolites through complex biosynthetic pathways.

Volatile-producing endophytes (VPEs) have been a remarkable niche of microorganisms able to produce substances suitable for applications in medicine, industry and agriculture. In this paper, pleasant odor

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) for the support.

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