The Most Important Fungal Diseases Associated with Some Useful Medicinal Plants

Microbial Contamination of Herbal Preparations on the Ghanaian Market, Accra

“…20 The presence of Bacillus , the second dominant bacterium, may be due to inadequate cleaning and handling processes in their preparations, to eliminate spore-containing soil that contaminate the raw materials. 6,21,22 Staphylococcus aureus is a normal flora of the nasal passage and skin, however, their presence in herbal preparations to be ingested orally may result in food poisoning and gastro-intestinal related infections. 23 Worthy of mention is the bacterium Shigella sonnei isolated from one of the locally branded samples, that causes shigellosis.…”

“…The major sources of microbial contamination of these herbal preparations are from raw materials used for the preparation, handling and processing, their storage and transportation. 5-7 Some of the common microbial pathogens found in herbal preparations are Escherichia coli , Salmonella typhi , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus spp , Enterobacter spp , Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis . 8,9 As the market for herbal medicine expands in many African countries, partly due to their use in the treatment of COVID-19, 10 there is the need to address all the associated safety issues.…”

Integrative Taxonomy of Novel Diaporthe Species Associated with Medicinal Plants in Thailand

“…They have also contributed to maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems and supporting natural recreation in urban ecosystems [ 1 , 2 ]. Fungi are usually encountered in medicinal plants, where they can affect their hosts in both beneficial and harmful manners [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. As pathogens, they impair plant health and productivity [ 4 ]; whereas, as endophytes, they promote plant growth and produce a diverse array of secondary metabolites, which have been exploited for the development of new drugs and pharmaceutical products [ 2 , 3 ].…”

“…Fungi are usually encountered in medicinal plants, where they can affect their hosts in both beneficial and harmful manners [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. As pathogens, they impair plant health and productivity [ 4 ]; whereas, as endophytes, they promote plant growth and produce a diverse array of secondary metabolites, which have been exploited for the development of new drugs and pharmaceutical products [ 2 , 3 ]. Thus, studies of fungi associated with medicinal plants represent a significant repository for the estimation of fungal diversity, the discovery of novel fungi and fungal–plant interactions, as well as the bioprospecting of new bioactive compounds and their biotechnological applications [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Pleocatenata chiangraiensis gen. et. sp. nov. (Pleosporales, Dothideomycetes) from medicinal plants in northern Thailand

“…They have a worldwide distribution with diverse lifestyles, including saprobes, pathogens of plants and humans, endophytes, epiphytes and hyperparasites ( Ramesh 2003 ; Kirk et al 2008 ; Zhang et al 2012 ; Hyde et al 2013 ; Sun et al 2019 ; Ferdinandez et al 2021 ). Many species in Alternaria Nee s , Curvularia Boedijn and Corynespora Güssow, can invade medicinal plants and cause leaf spots and other diseases, as economically important plant pathogens ( Mathiyazhagan et al 2004 ; Abtahi and Nourani 2017 ; Zhang et al 2020 ), and some also pose a threat to human health ( Hyde et al 2018 ; Iturrieta-González et al 2020 ). Endophytes in Pleosporales also show important biocontrol value ( Su et al 2014 ; De Silva et al 2019; Hyde et al 2019 ), for example, an extract from Cochliobolus spicifer R.R.…”