Applied and Environmental Microbiology (1999) 65, 929-935

Carolina Carsolio, Nicole Benhamou, Shoshan Haran, Carlos Cortés, Ana Gutiérrez, Ilan Chet and Alfredo Herrera-Estrella (1999)
Role of the Trichoderma harzianum endochitinase Gene, ech42, in mycoparasitism
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65 (3), 929-935
Abstract: The role of the Trichoderma harzianum endochitinase (Ech42) in mycoparasitism was studied by genetically manipulating the gene that encodes Ech42, ech42. We constructed several transgenic T. harzianum strains carrying multiple copies of ech42 and the corresponding gene disruptants. The level of extracellular endochitinase activity when T. harzianum was grown under inducing conditions increased up to 42-fold in multicopy strains as compared with the wild type, whereas gene disruptants exhibited practically no activity. The densities of chitin labeling of Rhizoctonia solani cell walls, after interactions with gene disruptants were not statistically significantly different than the density of chitin labeling after interactions with the wild type. Finally, no major differences in the efficacies of the strains generated as biocontrol agents against R. solani or Sclerotium rolfsii were observed in greenhouse experiments.
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Database assignments for author(s): Nicole Benhamou

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Athelia rolfsii
	Rhizoctonia solani
Trichoderma harzianum (antagonist)	Athelia rolfsii
Trichoderma harzianum (antagonist)	Rhizoctonia solani