Journal of Plant Pathology (2005) 87, p. 304 (Ruocco et al.)

M. Ruocco, S. Lanzuise, M. Ferri, F. Scala, S.L. Woo and M. Lorito (2005)
HYTRA1, a new hydrophobin from Trichoderma harzianum, may be involved in the interaction mechanisms of this fungus with plants
Journal of Plant Pathology 87 (4), 304-304
XII Meeting, Italian Society for Plant Pathology, Reggio Calabria, 29/9 - 1/10, 2005 (poster)
Abstract: Fungal hydrophobins are small hydrophobic proteins that play an important role in the biology of fungal development. Hydrophobins are ubiquitous in filamentous fungi and, in many cases, their genes have been identified by analysing the mRNAs more abundantly transcribed during developmental processes such as sporulation, fruit body formation, or fungal infection of plants and animals. In our studies on Trichoderma-plant interactions we found a new hydrophobin from culture filtrates of T. harzianum T22. A 10 kDa protein was purified by a chitin column affinity and the first 15 amino acids were sequenced by the Edman reaction. By using degenerate primers designed on the obtained amino acidic sequence, the whole gene was cloned. From data bank screening, this gene proved to encode a new class II hydrophobin (named HYTRA1). HYTRA1 is a hydrophobin with chitin binding activity, possessing the typical 8 cysteine residues and 4 disulfide bridges. Infiltrations of the fractions purified from the culture filtrate of T. harzianum containing HYTRA1 gave a strong HR reaction in tobacco and tomato leaves. HYTRA1 was expressed in Escherichia coli under the T7 promoter and its production was tested by using IPTG as an inductor. The protein was found in inclusion bodies but not in the cytoplasmatic fraction. The targeted disruption of the Hytra1 gene is in progress to study the role of this hydrophobin in the biological and antagonistic activity of T. harzianum.
Database assignments for author(s): Sheridan L. Woo, Michelina Ruocco, Felice Scala

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.
Trichoderma harzianum (antagonist)