**5. Biotechnological Implications**

Long-lasting evolutionary processes taking place together with their host plants have allowed endophytic fungi to work out various strategies enabling them to keep an equilibrium between virulence and plant defense in order to share common habitat. Endophytic fungi not only are able to influence plants' metabolism and physiology by producing unique and specific secondary metabolites, they were also found to produce bioactive natural products originally known exclusively from their host plants, and have elaborated strategies for detoxification by exploiting their biotransformation abilities. These properties make endophytes a perfect target for various biotechnological approaches and further commercial exploitation.
