Abstract: Many studies have shown that endophytes can co-evolution with host,and can produce similar or identical physiologically active substances as host.Flavonoid is one of most active compounds in extracts of Ginkgo biloba. In the present study,the method of tissue culturing was used to isolate endophytic fungi from health ginkgo roots and stems.After repeated separation and purification,116 Ginkgo endophytes were isolated.Metabolites of these fungi was preliminarily analyzed by color reaction and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC),and two flavonoids producing endophytes were finally screened out.The production of flavonoids by these two strains were all more than 20 mg/L.These two endophytic fungi strain were identified as Mucor spp.and Penicillium spp.by morphology characteristics and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) sequences analysis,and Penicillium spp.was the first report in the flavonoid producing endophytic fungus from G.biloba. This study laid a good foundation for the production of flavonoids by microbial fermentation,and these two strains can be induced to improve the production of flavonoids by mutation breeding before they are used to produce flavonoids by fermentation.

Key words: Ginkgo biloba, endophytes, flavones, identification