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Trichoderma–Plant–Pathogen Interactions: Advances in Genetics of Biological Control

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Abstract

Trichoderma spp. are widely used in agriculture as biofungicides. Induction of plant defense and mycoparasitism (killing of one fungus by another) are considered to be the most important mechanisms of Trichoderma-mediated biological control. Understanding these mechanisms at the molecular level would help in developing strains with superior biocontrol properties. In this article, we review our current understanding of the genetics of interactions of Trichoderma with plants and plant pathogens.

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Acknowledgments

Work in the S. Z. laboratory was supported by FWF (P18109 and V139) and WWTF (LS09-036) grants. Genome sequencing was conducted by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Institute for Cotton Research, Shankar Nagar PO, Nagpur, 440010, India

    Mala Mukherjee & Prasun K. Mukherjee

  2. Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000, Haifa, Israel

    Benjamin A. Horwitz

  3. Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB GmbH), Petersgasse 14, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Christin Zachow

  4. Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

    Gabriele Berg

  5. Division Biotechnology and Microbiology, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, 1060, Vienna, Austria

    Susanne Zeilinger

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  1. Mala Mukherjee
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  2. Prasun K. Mukherjee
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Correspondence to Susanne Zeilinger.

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Mukherjee, M., Mukherjee, P.K., Horwitz, B.A. et al. Trichoderma–Plant–Pathogen Interactions: Advances in Genetics of Biological Control. Indian J Microbiol 52, 522–529 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-012-0308-5

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