Multidrug drug resistant bacteria are becoming increasingly problematic particularly in the under developed countries of the world. The most important microorganisms that have seen a geometric rise in numbers are Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium, Penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumonia and multiple drug resistant tubercule bacteria to name a just few. New drug scaffolds are essential to tackle this every increasing problem. These scaffolds can be sourced from nature itself. Endophytic fungi are an important reservoir of therapeutically active compounds. This review attempts to present some data relevant to the problem. New, very specific and effective antibiotics are needed but also at an affordable price! A Herculean task for researchers all over the world! In the Asian subcontinent indigenous therapeutics that has been practiced over the centuries such as Ayurveda have been effective as “handed down data” in family generations. May need a second, third and more “in-depth investigations?”

Biodiversity is a major resource for identification of new molecules with specific therapeutic activities. To identify such an active resource, high throughput screening (HTS) of the extracts prepared from such diversity are examined on specific functional assays. Based on such HTS studies and bioactivity-based fractionation, we have isolated ergoflavin, a pigment from an endophytic fungus, growing on the leaves of an Indian medicinal plant Mimosops elengi (bakul). We report here the isolation, structure elucidation, and biological properties of this compound, which showed good anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities.

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Eighty soil samples were collected from various sites of Bahrain and screened for presence of keratinophilic fungi using hair baiting techniques for isolation. Thirty-six isolates were recovered and identified. The cultures were identified using macro- and micromorphological features. Their identification was also confirmed by the BLAST search of sequences of ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA region against the NCBI/Gene bank data and compared with deposited sequences for confirmation. Eight species of five genera were isolated viz. Aphanoascus fulvuscence (8.75%), Aphanoascus punsolae (20.00%), Chrysosporium indicum (2.50%), Chrysosporium tropicum (2.50%), Chrysosporium zonatum (3.75%), Spiromastix warcupii (1.25%), Microsporum gypseum (3.75%), and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (2.50%). In conclusion, our study indicates that keratinophilic fungi do occur in the various soils of Bahrain. Moreover, the narrow diversity and low density of keratinophilic fungi in the investigated soils is expected and is emblematic to other hot arid environments.