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Fungi have especially captured the interest and fascination of natural product chemists in that they produce a dizzying array of natural organic molecules with many unique functional groups and atom arrangements. In this review, we focus on the genus Talaromyces (Trichocomaceae) which has been a hot spot of natural product studies over the last three decades. This review summarized the discovery, structures, and bioactivities of various classes of 151 compounds isolated from both terrestrial and marine derived fungal strains of the genus Talaromyces reported from 1994 to 2019.

Boosted by the general aim of exploiting the biotechnological potential of the microbial component of biodiversity, research on the secondary metabolite production of endophytic fungi has remarkably increased in the past few decades. Novel compounds and bioactivities have resulted from this work, which has stimulated a more thorough consideration of various natural ecosystems as conducive contexts for the discovery of new drugs. Thriving at the frontier between land and sea, mangrove forests represent one of the most valuable areas in this respect. The present paper offers a review of the research on the characterization and biological activities of secondary metabolites from manglicolous strains of species belonging to the genus Talaromyces. Aspects concerning the opportunity for a more reliable identification of this biological material in the light of recent taxonomic revisions are also discussed.

The focus of this review is placed on the chemical structures from the species of the genus Talaromyces reported with reference to their biological activities. 221 secondary metabolites, including 43 alkaloids and peptides, 88 esters, 31 polyketides, 19 quinones, 15 steroid and terpenoids, and 25 other structure type compounds, have been included, and 66 references are cited. Graphical Abstract