ABSTRACT
Licorice is an important medicinal and aromatic plant and due to its ethnopharmacological value, it is also known as “the king of Chinese medicines”. The endophytic microbiome of G. glabra comprises diverse group fungi mainly belonging to Ascomycota. Phoma and Fusarium species dominate the endophytic community of the host plant. The endophytes displayed differential tissue specificity and the diversity of endophytes varies with geographical location. Several endophytes possess plant growth–promoting traits, whereas none was pathogenic to the plant. All the endophytic taxa enhanced plant secondary metabolites under in vitro conditions, indicating these endophytes may have an important role to play in growth and development of the host plant. The interaction between the endophytes with the host plant needs to be explored further, which might lead to microbial formulations for the sustainable cultivation and productivity of plant.
