The term "endolith", which defines an organism that colonizes the interior of any kind of rock, has been further classified into five subclasses:
Chasmoendolith Colonizes fissures and cracks in the rock … See more

The metabolism of endolithic microorganisms is versatile, in many of those communities have been found genes involved in sulphur metabolism, iron metabolism and carbon fixation. In addition, whether they metabolize these directly from the … See more

Only limited research has been done concerning the distribution of marine endolithic fungi and its diversity even though there is a probability that endolithic fungi could perhaps play an important role in the health of coral reefs.
Endolithic fungi … See more

Evidence of endolithic fungi were discovered within dinosaur eggshell found in central China. They were characterized as being “needle-like, ribbon-like, and silk-like.". See more

Endolithic microorganisms have been reported in many areas around the globe. There are reports in warm hyper-arid and arid deserts such as Mojave and Sonora (USA), Atacama (Chile), Gobi (China, Mongolia), Negev (Israel), Namib (Namibia Angola), Al-Jafr … See more

As most endoliths are autotrophs, they can generate organic compounds essential for their survival on their own from inorganic matter. Some endoliths have specialized in … See more

Until the 1990s phototrophic endoliths were thought of as somewhat benign, but evidence has since surfaced that phototrophic … See more