We describe the second known case of human infection by Trichoderma harzianum. A disseminated fungal infection was detected in the postmortem examination of a renal transplant recipient and confirmed in culture. The only other reported infection by this fungus caused peritonitis in a diabetic patient. The in vitro antifungal susceptibilities of the clinical strain and three other strains of Tri...

The production of new generation of wood preservatives (without addition of a co-biocide) in combination with an exchange of wood poles on identical sites with high fungal inoculum, has resulted in an increase of premature failures of wood utility poles in the last decades. Wood destroying basidiomycetes inhabiting sites where poles have been installed, have developed resistance against wood pr...

Trichoderma is a fungal genus that includes species that are currently being used as biological control agents and/or as biofertilizers. In addition to the direct application of Trichoderma spp. as biocontrol agents in plant protection, recent studies have focused on the beneficial responses exerted on plants, stimulating the growth, activating the defenses, and/or improving nutrient uptake. Th...

Fungal species belonging to the genus Trichoderma are worldwide in occurrence and easily isolated from soil, decaying wood, and other forms of plant organic matter. They are, for the most part, classified as imperfect fungi, in that they have no known sexual stage. Rapid growth rate in culture and the production of numerous spores (conidia) that are varying shades of green characterize fungi in...

Water contamination with large amounts of industrial textile coloured effluents is an environmental concern. For the treatment of textile effluents, white-rot fungi have received extensive attention due to their powerful capability to produce oxidative (e.g., ligninolytic) enzymes. In addition, other groups of fungi, such as species of Aspergillus and Trichoderma, have also been used for textil...

Colonisation of plant roots by selected beneficial Trichoderma fungi or Pseudomonas bacteria can result in the activation of a systemic defence response that is effective against a broad spectrum of pathogens. In Arabidopsis thaliana, induced systemic resistance (ISR) triggered by the rhizobacterial strain Pseudomonas fluorescens WCS417r is regulated by a jasmonic acid- and ethylene-dependent d...

Mycoparasitic strains of Trichoderma are applied as commercial biofungicides for control of soilborne plant pathogens. Although the majority of commercial biofungicides are Trichoderma based, chemical pesticides, which are ecological and environmental hazards, still dominate the market. This is because biofungicides are not as effective or consistent as chemical fungicides. Efforts to improve t...

The antagonistic effect of Trichoderma harzianum on a range of seed-borne fungal pathogens of wheat (viz. Fusarium graminearum, Bipolaris sorokiniana, Aspergillus spp., and Penicillium spp.) was assessed. The potential of T. harzianum as a biocontrol agent was tested in vitro and under field conditions. Coculture of the pathogens and Trichoderma under laboratory conditions clearly showed domina...

Plants are constantly exposed to microbes, for this reason they have evolved sophisticated strategies to perceive and identify biotic interactions. Thus, plants have large collections of so-called resistance (R) proteins that recognize specific microbe factors as signals of invasion. One of these proteins is codified by the Arabidopsis thaliana HR4 gene in the Col-0 ecotype that is homologous t...

Fungi Trichoderma spp. are present in nearly all soils and other habitats. Most of Trichoderma strains are efficient for control of some pathogens. Some strains induce plant native defence mechanisms. Botrytis cinerea [Pers.: Fr.] causes economic losses on a wide range of cultivated plants and stored fruits. In presented work Trichoderma asperellum [strain T1] isolated from commercial product w...