A systematic review on endophytic fungi and its role in the commercial applications.

MAIN CONCLUSION: EF have been explored for its beneficial impact on environment and for its commercial applications. It has proved its worth in these sectors and showed an impact on biological properties of plants by producing various bioactive molecules and enzymes. Endophytes are plant mutualists that live asymptomatically within plant tissues and exist in almost every plant species. Endophytic fungi benefit from the host plant nutrition, and the host plant gains improved competitive abilities and tolerance against pathogens, herbivores, and various abiotic stresses. Endophytic fungi are one of the most inventive classes which produce secondary metabolites and play a crucial role in human health and other biotic aspects. This review is focused on systematic study on the biodiversity of endophytic fungi in plants, and their role in enhancing various properties of plants such as antimicrobial, antimycobacterial, antioxidant, cytotoxic, anticancer, and biological activity of secondary metabolites produced by various fungal endophytes in host plants reported from 1994 to 2021. This review emphasizes the endophytic fungal population shaped by host genotype, environment, and endophytic fungi genotype affecting host plant. The impact of endophytic fungi has been discussed in detail which influences the commercial properties of plants. Endophytes also have an influence on plant productivity by increasing parameters such as nutrient recycling and phytostimulation. Studies focusing on mechanisms that regulate attenuation of secondary metabolite production in EF would provide much needed impetus on ensuring continued production of bioactive molecules from a indubitable source. If this knowledge is further extensively explored regarding fungal endophytes in plants for production of potential phytochemicals, then it will help in exploring a keen area of interest for pharmacognosy.

Improvement in the Phytochemical Content and Biological Properties of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) Bertoni Plant Using Endophytic Fungi Fusarium fujikuroi.

This study aimed to increase the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants through inoculation with endophytic fungi. As endophytes influence medicinal plants' biological properties, twenty fungal strains were isolated from the medicinal plant Ocimum tenuiflorum. Among all fungal isolates, the R2 strain showed the highest antagonistic activity towards plant pathogenic fungi Rosellinia necatrix and Fusarium oxysporum. The partial ITS region of the R2 strain was deposited in the GenBank nucleotide sequence databases under accession number ON652311 as Fusarium fujikuroi isolate R2 OS. To ascertain the impact of an endophytic fungus on the biological functions of medicinal plants, Stevia rebaudiana seeds were inoculated with Fusarium fujikuroi (ON652311). In the DPPH assay, the IC50 value of the inoculated Stevia plant extracts (methanol, chloroform, and positive control) was 72.082 µg/mL, 85.78 µg/mL, and 18.86 µg/mL, respectively. In the FRAP assay, the IC50 value of the inoculated Stevia extracts (methanol, chloroform extract, and positive control) was 97.064 µM Fe2+ equivalents, 117.662 µM Fe2+ equivalents, and 53.384 µM Fe2+ equivalents, respectively. In the extracts of the plant inoculated with endophytic fungus, rutin and syringic acid (polyphenols) concentrations were 20.8793 mg/L and 5.4389 mg/L, respectively, which were higher than in the control plant extracts. This approach can be further utilized for other medicinal plants to increase their phytochemical content and hence medicinal potential in a sustainable way.

Determinants of utilization of services under MMJSSA scheme in Jharkhand 'Client Perspective': a qualitative study in a low performing state of India.

Preventing maternal death associated with pregnancy and child birth is one of the greatest challenges for India. Approximately 55,000 women die in India due to pregnancy- and childbirth- related conditions each year. Increasing the coverage of maternal and newborn interventions is essential if Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4 and 5 are to be reached. With a view to accelerate the reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality through institutional deliveries, Government of India initiated a scheme in 2005 called Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) under its National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). In Jharkhand the scheme is called the Mukhya Mantri Janani Shishu Swasthya Abhiyan (MMJSSA). This paper focuses on community perspectives, for indentifying key areas that require improvement for proper implementation of the MMJSSA in Jharkhand. Qualitative research method was used to collect data through in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) in six districts of Jharkhand- Gumla, West Singhbhum, Koderma, Deoghar, Garhwa, and Ranchi. Total 300 IDIs (24 IDIs each from mother given birth at home and institution respectively; two IDIs each with members of Village Health and Sanitation Committees (VHSC) / Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS) from each district) and 24 FGDs (four FGDs were conducted from pools of husbands, mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law in each district) were conducted. Although people indicated willingness for institutional deliveries (generally perceived to be safe deliveries), several barriers emerged as critical obstacles. These included poor infrastructure, lack of quality of care, difficulties while availing incentives, corruption in disbursement of incentives, behavior of the healthcare personnel and lack of information about MMJSSA. Poor (and expensive) transport facilities and difficult terrain made geographical access difficult. The level of utilization of maternal healthcare among women in Jharkhand is low. There was an overwhelming demand for energizing sub-centers (including for deliveries) in order to increase access to maternal and child health services. Having second ANMs will go a long way in achieving this end. The MMJSSA scheme will thus have to re-invent itself within the overall framework of the NRHM.