ABSTRACT
Microorganisms produces huge repertoire of natural products with wide range of applications from pharmaceuticals to agriculture, antimicrobials to biofuel, and ecological adaptation to environmental remediation. Plants harbor diverse array of microbial symbionts known as endophytes, which are known to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. These secondary metabolites mostly induce specific phenotypic function such as crosstalk with associated organisms, chemical warfare/defense, and stress adaptation in the host plant and/or endophyte. Secondary metabolites produced by the endophytic microorganisms include Polyketides, non-ribosomal peptides, terpenes, steroids, alkaloids, phenolic and flavonoids, aliphatic compounds, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Some endophytes are known to produce secondary metabolites which mimic the host plant metabolites and one of the probable mechanisms for this is suggested to be the horizontal gene transfer between the host plant and the endophytic microbial partner.
