Abstract: Tissue culture and artificial cultivation are main ways to save the endangered wild Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. to obtain medicinal materials and their active components. To solve the problem of the lack of sesquiterpenoids in cultivated A. lancea, we simulated the original habitat of genuine producing area by inoculating endophytes. We found that although a single inoculation promotes the accumulation of sesquiterpenoids to some extent, different endophytes had different effects on the synthesis of sesquiterpenoids. To better simulate the primary microecological environment of A. lancea, a dominant endophytic bacterium Pseudomonas flurescens ALEB7B and several endophytic fungi were inoculated in different combinations to obtain an ideal sesquiterpenoids accumulation effect in the host plant. The results were as follows: (1) the combination of ALEB7B and endophytic fungiCunninghamella sp. AL4, Gilmaniella sp. AL12, Acremonium strictum AL16 was the most effective combination. (2) Endophyte assembly significantly promoted plant growth and enhanced the content of sesquiterpenoids in tissue culture and field conditions. The total sesquiterpenoids increased by 136% in bud formation stage in the second year after the field overwintering period. (3) We analyzed how the endophyte assembly affected the production of sesquiterpenoids of A. lancea in the whole growth cycle from tissue culture to field, in terms of the changes of endogenous hormones (such as salicylic acid, auxin) and the expression of key genes of sesquiterpenoid synthesis (such as HMGR, DXS).

Key words: endophyte assembly, Atractylodes lancea(Thunb.) DC., sesquiterpenoids, endogenous hormone, key gene.