The maidenhair tree (Gingko biloba) over his long period of existence has developed the ability to withstand multiple and diverse environmental stresses and microbial diseases. This species can, therefore, constitute a very good candidate for microbiological research. In fact, besides its outstanding pharmaceutical properties, several studies over the past two decades have also demonstrated that this fossil tree hosts numerous and highly diverse endophytic microorganisms. In this review, we summarized the current trend of knowledge on the different groups of microbial species inhabiting G. biloba including novel microbial species recently identified. Moreover, novel secondary metabolites isolated from these endophytes and their associated biological activities are also discussed. Our investigation is indicating clearly that G. biloba is a very rich source of endophytes because more than 30 genera of fungi and bacteria have already been reported as endophytes of this plant. However, because only a very small fraction of isolated endophytes was fully characterized, this diversity is highly underestimated, besides the paucity of information regarding endophytic bacteria and actinomycetes. We also brought to light the fact that limited is data regarding the bioactive spectrum of these endophytes. From this summary of data from the last two decades, it has become clear that more investigations are needed to fully characterize the endophytic microbial community inhabiting the maidenhair tree for both microbiological and pharmaceutical purposes.

女仆树（Gingko biloba）在他的长期生存中已经发展出抵御多种多样的环境压力和微生物疾病的能力。因此，该物种可以构成微生物研究的很好候选者。实际上，除了其杰出的药物特性外，过去二十年的几项研究还表明，这种化石树还拥有众多且高度多样化的内生微生物。在这篇综述中，我们总结了居住在银杏科植物中不同种类微生物的最新知识趋势。包括最近发现的新型微生物。此外，还讨论了从这些内生菌分离的新的次生代谢产物及其相关的生物学活性。我们的调查清楚表明，G。biloba内生菌是非常丰富的来源，因为已经报道了30多种真菌和细菌作为该植物的内生菌。但是，由于仅对很少一部分分离出的内生菌进行了充分表征，因此除了缺乏有关内生细菌和放线菌的信息外，这种多样性被低估了。我们还揭示了以下事实：有关这些内生菌的生物活性谱的数据有限。从过去二十年的数据总结来看，很明显，需要进行更多的研究以充分表征居住在美毛树上的内生微生物群落，以便进行微生物和药物研究。