Fungal Endophyte-Mediated Pathways for Promoting Sustainable Tea Cultivation: Diversity, Interactions, and Applications

The tea plant ( Camellia sinensis) hosts a wide range of endophytic microbes, including culturable endophytic fungi, that contribute substantial benefits to the health and fitness of host plants. Endophytic fungi are microorganisms that reside within the host plant tissues without causing any disease symptoms. These fungi have various beneficial effects on plant health. This review examines the diversity and benefits associated with endophytic fungi in tea plants and other economically important crop systems, including wheat, maize, sugarcane, banana, tomato, and cotton. This review describes the microbiomes of other important crop endophytes and compares them with those of the tea plant. This study investigates the characteristics of the culturable endophytic fungi isolated from the tea plant. The members of the genus Colletotrichum are the dominant endophytic fungal communities and characteristic to tea plants. This comparative analysis delineates the similarities and differences among endophytic fungal communities of tea plants and other economically important crops, confirming Colletotrichum as the key beneficial endophytic genus in tea plants. This comparative analysis also emphasizes the different potential benefits that the endophytic mycobiome of the tea plant may provide. Additionally, we comprehensively examined how such endophytes can improve plant tolerance to stresses, influence plant growth, and increase the production of bioactive compounds and secondary metabolites. This review identifies key research gaps and pinpoints future research directions related to the tea plant endophytic mycobiome, as well as analyzes the significance of its continuous investigation for sustainable tea cultivation. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .