Bioprospecting fungal and bacterial endophytes:

Microbial metabolomics (including biosynthesis) of novel plant-associated endophytes producing natural bioactive molecules of medicinal importance (especially associated host plant bioactive molecules) using microbiological, molecular, biochemical, bioassay-guided and bioanalytical methodologies [including state-of-art methodologies such as the highly sensitive and selective high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS and LC-ESI-HRMSⁿ; using TSQ Quantum Ultra, LTQ-Orbitrap, Orbitrap XL, and Q-Exactive Orbitrap) and MALDI-HRMS imaging] – bioprospecting coupled to plant and forest ecology for comprehensive natural resource management (and preservation) strategies

Chemical ecology of endophytes and environmental microbiology:

Interspecies and multispecies crosstalk of endophytes (such as endophyte-endophyte, endophyte-host, endophyte-pathogens, endophyte-herbivores), and how these interactions correlate with the biosynthesis of natural products and plant fitness benefits – selection pressures of both biotic and abiotic factors

Geomicrobiology and chemical microbiology:

Role of endophytes and other plant-associated soil microbes in biogeochemical processes, including degradation of xenobiotics, pesticides and microbe-mediated phytoremediation strategies; chemical microbiological cascade-processes among endophytes and between endophytes and associated organisms. Bio(geo)chemical and molecular interactions between plants and their endophytic microflora to evaluate the evolutionary and ecological aspects of such host-microbe mutualism (comparing and correlating biodiversity with chemodiversity)

Plant chemistry and natural product chemistry:

Isolation, identification and structural elucidation of natural bioactive molecules from traditional medicinal plants, and plants that are endemic, endangered or are from unique environmental settings (specific soil conditions), extremophile microbes as natural resources

Chemometrics:

Infraspecific and infrageneric metabolite variabilities and correlations among the plant/endophyte metabolites in order to understand the distribution of metabolites

External funding acknowledgements