Ismaiel, A.; Lakshman, D.K.; Jambhulkar, P.P.; Roberts, D.P. Trichoderma: Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Species with High Potential for Biocontrol and Biofertilizer Applications. Applied Microbiology 2024, 4, 875–893, doi:10.3390/applmicrobiol4020060.
Ismaiel, A.; Lakshman, D.K.; Jambhulkar, P.P.; Roberts, D.P. Trichoderma: Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Species with High Potential for Biocontrol and Biofertilizer Applications. Applied Microbiology 2024, 4, 875–893, doi:10.3390/applmicrobiol4020060.
Ismaiel, A.; Lakshman, D.K.; Jambhulkar, P.P.; Roberts, D.P. Trichoderma: Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Species with High Potential for Biocontrol and Biofertilizer Applications. Applied Microbiology 2024, 4, 875–893, doi:10.3390/applmicrobiol4020060.
Ismaiel, A.; Lakshman, D.K.; Jambhulkar, P.P.; Roberts, D.P. Trichoderma: Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Species with High Potential for Biocontrol and Biofertilizer Applications. Applied Microbiology 2024, 4, 875–893, doi:10.3390/applmicrobiol4020060.
Abstract
Certain Trichoderma isolates provide biofertilizer, biocontrol, and other plant-beneficial activities while inhabiting the soil or internal plant issues; and their use in agricultural systems could contribute to sustainable food production. It is thought that this colonization of soil and internal plant tissues is fundamental for biocontrol and biofertilizer applications. Our collective analyses of prior surveys, where the tef1 sequence was almost exclusively used to identify Trichoderma species, showed that isolates from the Harzianum Complex Clade, the T. asperellum/T. asperelloides group, T. virens, T. hamatum, and T. atroviride were prevalent in soil and/or as endophytes. Population structure and genetic diversity of these species were investigated, and new lineages with geo-graphic significance within T. atroviride, T. asperellum, T. hamatum, and T. virens populations were found. The nearest relatives of some species were also revealed. Choosing isolates from among more than 500 known Trichoderma species for use in non-targeted evaluation screens for biocontrol or biofertilizer applications is time-consuming and expensive. Preferentially selecting species from T. atroviride, T. asperellum/T. asperelloides, T. hamatum, species from the T. harzianum Complex Clade, T. virens, and possibly nearest relatives, may speed the identification of candidates for commercialization due to the demonstrated ability of these species to successfully inhabit the soil and endorhizosphere. To our knowledge, this is the first report where dominant soil- and en-dophyte-inhabiting Trichoderma species were identified from past survey data and population structure and genetic diversity analyses conducted.
Keywords
biocontrol agent; biofertilizer; sustainable agriculture; Trichoderma species; population structure and genetic diversity
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
