Fungal metabolites and their industrial importance: a brief review

In pursuit of a better environmental sustainability, production industries are moving away from the conventional, chemically manufactured compounds and are focusing on optimising bio-based, naturally harvestable compounds to reduce carbon footprints, ecological and environmental impacts as well as to reduce manufacturing costs. One way to achieve this is by harnessing the versatile potential of diverse microorganisms, particularly fungi. Fungi have been known as important microorganisms for industrialisation. Many enzymes as well as primary and secondary metabolites that include pigments, antibiotics, vitamins, amino acids and organic acids have been discovered, leading to a productive growth of bio-commercialisation. This review will focus on the current biotechnical applications of filamentous fungi and its related industrial processes and will conclude with future prospects of the mycological biotechnology