Trichoderma in the rhizosphere- looking for sugar?

VARGAS WA; LAUGHLIN D; KENERLEY CM

Trichoderma. Genetics and Applications

CABI

Lugar: Steling, VA; Año: 2013; p. 144 - 151

Trichoderma species display a high metabolicplasticity. These fungi are capable of producing a wide variety of secondarymetabolites and can also thrive on numerous substrates. For instance, membersof this genus can parasitize other fungi or nematodes, degrade several organicsubstrates in the soil including plant litter, and detect the presence ofliving plant roots to initiate the process of living-host colonization. Thecolonization strategy and metabolic arsenal required may be different for plantlitter or any other non-living substrate versus an active root system. In thecase of plant root colonization, the fungal hypha establishes an intimateassociation with fine-tuning control of host invasion to avoid excessive hostdamage for a successful interaction. Recent reports have suggested that thedisaccharide sucrose, secreted into the soil by plant roots may act as a signalmolecule and have a regulatory effect on root colonization by Trichoderma spp. In this chapter, weextend our knowledge of sucrose metabolic pathways in T. virens to other Trichodermaspp., and discuss the importance of plant-released sucrose as an indicatorenabling Trichoderma spp. todiscriminate between living and dead tissue. We also compare and contrastcarbohydrate metabolism between Trichodermaspp. with recent finding in mycorrhizal fungi, the other well-known rootcolonizers.