Synergistic partnerships of endophytic fungi for bioactive compound production and biotic stress management in medicinal plants

•Fungal endophytes are the medicinal plant partners that not only help plants synthesize important secondary metabolites and help them resist biotic stress.•Fungal endophytes in medicinal plants produce anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, antioxidant, and various other compounds that improve the medicinal status of these plants.•Fungal endophytes greatly enhance biotic stress resistance in medicinal plants and also contain genes to positively impact the production of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants.