Abstract

So far, biocontrol agent selection has been performed mainly by time consuming in vitroconfrontation tests followed by extensive trials in greenhouse and field. An alternative approach is offered byapplication of high-throughput techniques, which allow extensive screening and comparison among strains fordesired genetic traits. In the genus Trichoderma, the past assignments of particular features or strains to one speciesneed to be reconsidered according to the recent taxonomic revisions. Here we present the genome of a biocontrolstrain formerly known as Trichoderma harzianum ITEM 908, which exhibits both growth promoting capabilities andantagonism against different fungal pathogens, including Fusarium graminearum, Rhizoctonia solani, and the rootknotnematode Meloidogyne incognita. By genomic analysis of ITEM 908 we investigated the occurrence and therelevance of genes associated to biocontrol and stress tolerance, providing a basis for future investigation aimingto unravel the complex relationships between genomic endowment and exhibited activities of this strain.Results: The MLST analysis of ITS-TEF1 concatenated datasets reclassified ITEM 908 as T. atrobrunneum, a speciesrecently described within the T. harzianum species complex and phylogenetically close to T. afroharzianum and T.guizhouense. Genomic analysis revealed the presence of a broad range of genes encoding for carbohydrate activeenzymes (CAZYmes), proteins involved in secondary metabolites production, peptaboils, epidithiodioxopiperazinesand siderophores potentially involved in parasitism, saprophytic degradation as well as in biocontrol andantagonistic activities. This abundance is comparable to other Trichoderma spp. in the T. harzianum speciescomplex, but broader than in other biocontrol species and in the species T. reesei, known for its industrialapplication in cellulase production. Comparative analysis also demonstrated similar genomic organization of majorsecondary metabolites clusters, as in other Trichoderma species.Conclusions: Reported data provide a contribution to a deeper understanding of the mode of action andidentification of activity-specific genetic markers useful for selection and improvement of biocontrol strains. Thiswork will also enlarge the availability of genomic data to perform comparative studies with the aim to correlatephenotypic differences with genetic diversity of Trichoderma species.

Autore Pugliese

• Altomare Claudio , Fanelli Francesca

Tutti gli autori

• Fanelli F.; Liuzzi V.C.;Logrieco A.F.; Altomare C.

Titolo volume/Rivista

BMC genomics

Anno di pubblicazione

2018

ISSN

1471-2164

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

Non Disponibile

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile