Abstract
Endophytic fungi are organisms that reside asymptomatically in the tissues of higher plants without initiating any disease or overt negative symptoms in the host plants. This type of fungus acts as a biostimulant and uses living plant cells as a biofactory for the production of different desirable products. While promoting the production of secondary metabolites in host plants, endophytic fungi can also contribute to improving the development, fitness, and tolerances of host plants against abiotic and biotic stresses. However, their diverse distributions and populations are influenced by several factors, for example, genetic conditions, age, and the environmental conditions of their hosts. Nowadays, different types of endophytic fungi are currently used as biological agents to induce the formation of resinous substances in plants as a response to fungal infections, such as in the case of Aquilaria trees. Agarwood or resin wood is an important high-value product that is synthesized naturally as a result of certain fungal infections of Aquilaria trees. This resin is a high-value component in the manufacture of essential oils and perfumes. This review provides up-to-date information about the process and mechanism of agarwood resin production in Aquilaria trees as well as the best practices used in the sustainable production of this high-value product in Southeast Asia.
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El Enshasy, H.A., Hanapi, S.Z., Malek, R.A., Abdelgalil, S.A., Leng, O.M. (2019). Endophytic Fungi: The Desired Biostimulants for Essential Oil Production. In: Singh, B. (eds) Advances in Endophytic Fungal Research. Fungal Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03589-1_10
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