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Significance of lytic enzymes from Trichoderma spp. in the biocontrol of fungal plant pathogens

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Abstract

The use of specific mycolytic soil microorganisms to control plant pathogens is an ecological approach to overcome the problems caused by standard chemical methods of plant protection. The ability to produce lytic enzymes is a widely distributed property of rhizosphere-competent fungi and bacteria. Due to the higher activity of Trichoderma spp. lytic enzymes as compared to the same class of enzymes from other microorganisms and plants, effort is being aimed at improving biocontrol agents and plants by introducing Trichoderma genes via genetic manipulations. An overview is presented of the data currently available on lytic enzymes from the mycoparasitic fungus Trichoderma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Rehouot, Israel

    Ada Viterbo & Ilan Chet

  2. Otto Warburg Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, PO Box 12, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Ofir Ramot & Leonid Chernin

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  1. Ada Viterbo
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  2. Ofir Ramot
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  3. Leonid Chernin
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  4. Ilan Chet
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Correspondence to Ada Viterbo.

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Viterbo, A., Ramot, O., Chernin, L. et al. Significance of lytic enzymes from Trichoderma spp. in the biocontrol of fungal plant pathogens. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 81, 549–556 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020553421740

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