It is important to note that insects consume plant leaf material containing a variety of endophytic species in addition to secondary metabolites produced or induced by these fungi. Accordingly, interactions between these fungi within leaf tissues may affect secondary metabolite profiles and thus insect feeding and fitness (Gange et al. 2012). Marine-derived fungal-host interaction Marine invertebrates such as sponges, ascidians and soft corals are well known to house numerous microorganisms within their tissues including fungi which may be detected

directly by microscopy or indirectly by metagenomic surveys (Olson and Kellogg 2010). They were LY333531 cell line found to have physiological

and ecological roles for the fungal-host consortium which comprise nutritional enhancement, stabilization of host skeleton, and secondary metabolite production. However, compared to terrestrial fungi, which were intensively investigated over the past decades, marine fungi still remain an underexplored group in the marine habitat and only very few reports can be found in the literature, which is in sharp contrast to their bacterial counterparts (Zhou et al. 2011b). Sponge driven currents produced selleck kinase inhibitor during filter feeding result in inhaling microorganisms from ambient seawater which mostly reside permanently in the sponge mesohyl if not phagocytised by the sponge (Thakur et al. 2004). In some cases such inhaled microbes may develop Morin Hydrate sponge-specific associations which can be maintained by vertical transmission (Taylor et al. 2007). It was reported that microorganisms may account for up to 40 % of sponge volume and greatly selleck influence sponge biology, chemistry and evolution (Webster and Taylor 2012). Being soft-bodied sessile organisms not able to move and lacking a hard outer protective shell, sponges are highly susceptible to marine predators. Hence it was concluded that sponges rely on

chemical rather than on physical defence (Burns et al. 2003). Endosymbionts may contribute to sponge defence by ecological competition with pathogens for space and nutrients, parasitizing or eradicating invading pathogens, altering host physiology to prevent invasion, and stimulating host innate immune system to rapidly respond to pathogens (Selvin et al. 2010). Sponge-associated fungi may have a potential role in the chemical defence of their hosts against pathogens, predators and foulers by the production of bioactive secondary metabolites, or by supplying precursors for the biosynthesis of defence metabolites by sponges, as well as defence enzymes such as extracellular phospholipases (Taylor et al. 2007; Selvin 2009; Ding et al. 2011).