Marine fungi Aspergillus sp. is an important source of natural active lead compounds with biological and chemical diversity, of which sesquiterpenoids are an extremely important class of bioactive secondary metabolites. In this paper, we review the sources, chemical structures, bioactivity, biosynthesis, and druggability evaluation of sesquiterpenoids discovered from marine fungi Aspergillus sp. since 2008. The Aspergillus species involved include mainly Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus ustus, Aspergillus sydowii, and so on, which originate from sponges, marine sediments, algae, mangroves, and corals. In recent years, 268 sesquiterpenoids were isolated from secondary metabolites of marine Aspergillus sp., 131 of which displayed bioactivities such as antitumor, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and enzyme inhibitory activity. Furthermore, the main types of active sesquiterpenoids are bisabolanes, followed by drimanes, nitrobenzoyl, etc. Therefore, these novel sesquiterpenoids will provide a large number of potential lead compounds for the development of marine drugs.
Keywords: Aspergillus; bioactivity; marine fungi; sesquiterpenoids.