Biocontrol genes from Trichoderma species: A review

Abstract

In the world, the traditional agricultural practices are getting affected by various problems such as disease, pest, drought, decreased soil fertility due to use of hazardous chemical pesticides, pollution and global warming. As a result, there is a need for some eco-friendly biocontrol agents that help in resolving the previous mentioned problems. The various types of biological control agents such as bacteria and fungi are involved in biocontrol activity. Among them, fungal genus Trichoderma plays a major role in controlling the plant diseases. The species of Trichoderma are known to produce different kinds of enzymes which have a significant role in biocontrol activity like cell wall degradation, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, hyphal growth, antagonistic activity against plant pathogens. By the advance techniques laid in the molecular biology, we can easily isolate, characterize, clone, sequence and express the functions of these genes and can study their functions and role in the biocontrol mechanism. This review article explains about the role, and functions of some major biocontrol genes present in the Trichoderma species viz., Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma atroviride, Trichoderma reesei, Trichoderma hamatum and Trichoderma longibrachiatum.

Key words: Trichoderma spp., genes, cloning, transformation, expression.