Endophytic microorganisms and their biotechnological potentials

Year 2026, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 21 - 29, 30.01.2026

Ceyda Berceste Karabulut , Elif Yürümez Canpolat

Abstract

Endophytes generally include bacterial and fungal species that spend all or a certain period of their life cycles in the internal tissues of plants. These microorganisms colonize plant tissues and do not harm the plant, but they promote plant growth and support the plant's defense mechanism. These beneficial properties can be associated with secondary metabolites synthesized by endophytes. Bioactive substances and secondary metabolites produced by endophytes are very important from a biotechnological perspective. There is a potential to produce bioproducts from endophytes within the scope of microbial, agricultural, soil, fungal and industrial biotechnology. The features revealed by studies conducted with endophytes attract attention. Endophyte bacteria and fungi support soil and plant sustainability and biological environmental cleaning by taking part in processes such as phytoremediation and fixation. They constitute a source of bioproducts such as biofertilizers due to the roles they play in various biological processes and the substances they synthesize. It is the subject of various studies, from phytopathogen antagonist activity tests to biological control research. When more diverse studies are carried out using plant, pathogen, and endophyte combinations that have not yet been studied using biotechnological methods, the potential use of endophytes for biological control will be understood in more detail. Almost all plants are known to host endophytes, which represent highly important resources for biotechnological research. However, further studies are required to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of endophytes. This study was carried out to express the biotechnological potential of endophytes in terms of their general characteristics.

Keywords

Endophytes , Endophytic bacteria , Endophytic fungi , Biotechnology , Sustainability

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