Molecular Tools for Monitoring Trichoderma in Agricultural Environments

Abstract

Various Trichoderma species possess significance in agricultural systems as biofertilizers or biocontrol agents (BCAs). Besides these beneficial features, certain Trichoderma species can also act as agricultural pests, causing the green mold disease of cultivated mushrooms. This double-faced nature of the genus in agricultural environments points at the importance of proper monitoring tools, which can be used to follow the presence and performance of candidate as well as patented and/or registered biocontrol strains, to assess the possible risks arising from their application, but also to track harmful, unwanted Trichoderma species like the green molds in mushroom growing facilities. The objective of this review is to discuss the molecular tools available for the species- and strain-specific monitoring of Trichoderma, ranging from immunological approaches and fingerprinting tools to exogenous markers, specific primers used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as well as “omics” approaches.

Inhibitory Mechanism of Trichoderma virens ZT05 on Rhizoctonia solani

“…Hyperparasitism is the main mechanism of biological control of the Trichoderma species. Trichoderma recognizes pathogens by identifying the lectin secreted by the pathogens [ 75 , 76 ]. After recognizing the host pathogen, Trichoderma induces a series of hyper parasite-related signaling pathways in the body.…”

Sustainable Approaches of Trichoderma under Changing Environments for Vegetable Production

“…These interactions could be classified on their effects on plant's developmentinto neutral, beneficial and deleterious groups (Kare et al 2020). These interactions also may include both detrimental and beneficial at multiple trophic levels (Kredics et al 2018). Cultivated plants face a lot of aggressors including pathogenic microorganisms and herbivorous arthropods, which activate plant corresponding signaling defense mechanisms (Macías-Rodríguez et al 2020).…”

Population density of Trichoderma fungi in natural environments and agrosystems of a Cerrado area

“…Although in these soils there is greater interaction between microorganisms and plants (Mohammadi et al, 2011), it is also in them that the microbial flora suffers the most competition pressure (Dantas et al 2009). Kredics et al (2018) complement that various biotic and abiotic factors affect diversity populations of microbial communities in agroecosystems, including plant species and their growth stage, total microbial competition, pesticide or fertilizer application, as well as geographic region. However, only a few studies address the population, abundance and diversity of the genus Trichoderma in specific fields or agroecosystems.…”

“…In the set of results, it was found a variation between Trichoderma population levels in the various organic crops evaluated, due to the different factors mentioned, although no correlation was studied or made regarding soil types and characteristics, only with the cropping systems. Regarding diversity, molecular characterization work of Trichoderma isolates from target properties should be performed to verify the prevalent species in the soil of organic crops and native vegetation, because the methodology used for sample dilution and calculation of forming units of colonies (CFUs) do not allow the distinction of an introduced strain of Trichoderma populations residing in the investigated environment (Kredics et al 2018). According to Louzada et al (2009), there are no data in the literature reporting the loss of diversity of Trichoderma spp.…”