Bacterial endophytes have emerged as critical components of plant microbiomes, offering multifaceted benefits ranging from growth promotion to stress resilience. This review synthesizes two decades of research, from 2004 to 2024, on bacterial endophyte identification and applications, highlighting advances in both traditional culture-based techniques and modern omics approaches. The review also focuses on interactions between these microorganisms and their host plants, emphasizing their roles in biocontrol, phytoremediation, and nanoparticle biosynthesis. While significant progress has been made in characterizing cultivable bacterial endophytes, challenges persist in accessing unculturable species and understanding strain-specific functional mechanisms. The integration of metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metabolomics has begun unraveling this hidden diversity, revealing novel metabolic pathways and plant–microbe communication systems. There have been limitations in endophyte isolation protocols and field applications, and therefore a need exists for standardized frameworks to bridge lab-based discoveries with agricultural practices. Cutting-edge multi-omics techniques, such as genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, and phenomics, should be used more in future research to clarify the mechanistic underpinnings of plant–endophyte interactions to thoroughly profile the microbial communities and unlock their functional potential under diverse environmental conditions. Overall, bacterial endophytes present viable paths toward sustainable farming methods, supporting food security and crop resilience in the face of environmental difficulties by providing a transformative opportunity for next-generation agriculture, mitigating climate-related agricultural stressors, reducing dependence on synthetic agrochemicals, and enhancing crop productivity.

Several cancers are induced by microbial infections or chronic inflammation. Ptaeroxylon obliquum is traditionally used to treat various infections characterized by inflammation. The in vitro antiproliferative and antioxidant activity of P. obliquum leaf extracts, fractions and isolated compounds were determined. Antiproliferative activity was assessed against normal Vero cells, and several cancerous human cells, including human breast cancer (MCF-7), hepatocarcinoma (HepG2), lung adenocarcinoma (A549) and human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) using a colorimetric tetrazolium bromide assay. Radical scavenging activity was tested using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-instrpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2’-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) assays. Obliquumol, O-methylalloptaeroxylin and a mixture of lupeol and β-amyrin were isolated from the chloroform fraction using silica gel open column chromatography. Acetone extracts were toxic to HepG2 cells with IC₅₀ values from 8 to 200 µg/mL but were less toxic to other cells with selectivity index as high as 14. Aqueous extracts and fractions were non-toxic at concentrations tested against all the cell lines (IC₅₀ > 100 µg/mL). Isolated compounds had IC₅₀ values ranging from 52 to 539 µg/mL and 189 to 247 µg/mL against HepG2 and HeLa cells, respectively. Light microscopy showing changes in HepG2 and HeLa cell morphology supported the cytotoxicity of the acetone extracts. Water extracts scavenged ABTS and DPPH radicals with IC₅₀ values as low as 29.06 µg/mL and 43.4 µg/mL. P. obliquum extracts may be useful as sources of anticancer therapy, as they have selective cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines.

Phytopathogenic fungi and nematodes cause great losses in economically important crops and food production especially in developing countries. To minimize the use of fungicides and nematicides, researchers have concentrated on the use of natural products for crop disease prevention or control. The aim of the study was to investigate the antifungal activity of Ptaeroxylon obliquum leaf extracts, fractions, and isolated compounds (obliquumol and a mixture of lupeol and β-amyrin) and nematocidal activity of fractions (hexane, chloroform and 30% water in methanol and the isolated compounds) on Meloidogyne incognita. Nine phytopathogenic fungi (Aspergillus niger, A. parasiticus, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium digitatum, P. expansum, P. italicum, P. janthinellum, and Rhizoctonia solani) were used for testing and nematocidal activity was determined on motility of plant parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita race 2 juveniles. Serial microdilution test was utilized to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of each sample against the fungus. Motility tests was done on the second-stage juveniles (J2s) of M. incognita. The most susceptible phytopathogenic fungal species to the acetone crude leaf extracts were A. niger, C. gloeosporioides and P. digitatum with MIC of 80 μg/ml which is considered pharmacological significant. Rhizoctonia solani was the most susceptible fungus against obliquumol and, lupeol and β-amyrin mixture with MIC values of 8 μg/ml and 16 μg/ml respectively. Lupeol & β-amyrin mixture had good activity on juvenile motility at high concentrations used which was significantly high (p ≤ 0.05) after 24 h, further incubation resulted in temporary paralysis at lower concentrations. Fractions and obliquumol showed good activity after 48 h, stable paralysis was observed up to 72 h. The extracts and isolated compounds may be useful as fungicides if the in vitro results can be confirmed under field conditions at levels not toxic to beneficial soil organisms.

Phytotherapy is a cost-effective alternative that continues to evolve. This has sparked significant research interest in naturally occurring compounds found in edible plants that possess antibacterial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Corchorus tridens L. is a wild edible plant widely recognised for its edible leaves, which are used for vegetable and animal feed. The plant is widely distributed across the African continent and is utilised in numerous countries for treating fever, pain, inflammation, and sexually transmitted diseases. Extracts from various parts of this plant exhibit antimicrobial, antioxidant, and pesticidal properties. This plant is a rich source of amino acids, vitamins, essential fatty acids, proteins, and minerals, as well as secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, quinines, steroids, terpenoids, phenols, and tannins. Additional studies are still needed to determine other biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory activity, involvement in the treatment of measles, prevention of anaemia, and pain-relieving properties. The current review aims to provide information on the characteristics, distribution, nutritional content, bioactive compounds, traditional uses, and biological activities of the edible plant species C. tridens L. to stimulate further research interest to address the existing literature gaps concerning this plant.

Diospyros mespiliformis Hochst. ex. A. DC is widely distributed throughout Africa and around the world. It is utilized ethnobotanically to treat fevers, wounds, malaria, diabetes mellitus, and other diseases. This review aims to provide an exhaustive overview of the traditional uses, pharmacology, and phytochemical analysis of D. mespiliformis, with the objective of identifying its therapeutic potential for further research. Scientific resources, including Google Scholar, Science Direct, Web of Science, Pub Med, and Scopus, were used to find pertinent data on D. mespiliformis. Secondary metabolites tentatively identified from this species were primarily terpenoids, naphthoquinones, phenolics, and coumarins. D. mespiliformis has been reported to demonstrate pharmacological activities, including antimicrobial, antiproliferative, antiparasitic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-hypersensitivity, and antidiabetic properties. The phytochemicals and extracts from D. mespiliformis have been reported to have some pharmacological effects in in vivo studies and were not toxic to the animal models that were utilized. The D. mespiliformis information reported in this review provides researchers with a comprehensive summary of the current research status of this medicinal plant and a guide for further investigation.

Bacterial endophytes are a diverse group of microorganisms that reside within tissues of plants without causing any harm and have gained significant attention due to their role in plant growth promotion, stress tolerance and disease resistance. Inter-actions between plant tissues and bacterial endophytes are complex and dynamic, in that understanding their colonization mechanisms remains crucial. Advances in ge-nomic and molecular techniques has provided insights into these interactions, but there is still much to explore. The diversity of these microorganisms leads to different functions among strains, making their isolation and characterization challenging. Therefore, researchers utilize a range of culture-independent molecular techniques and high-throughput sequencing technologies to elucidate the diversity of bacterial endophytes. Identifying and understanding these beneficial bacteria is crucial for their applications in agriculture, biotechnology, and environmental sustainability. Re-searchers can overcome the limitations and improve known techniques, from refining sample collection techniques to developing new computational algorithms. This re-view provides an overview of recent progress in bacterial endophytes identification, exploring both traditional and emerging techniques. It furthermore discusses broad applications of bacterial endophytes in various fields and highlights directions for fu-ture research aimed at enhancing our understanding and utilization of these valuable microorganisms.