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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 1999, p. 929-935, Vol. 65, No. 3
Centro de Investigación y Estudios
Avanzados, Plant Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Unit,
Irapuato, México1;
Université Laval, Ste. Foy, Québec,
Canada2; and Otto Warburg Center for
Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel3
Received 21 May 1998/Accepted 3 December 1998
The role of the Trichoderma harzianum endochitinase
(Ech42) in mycoparasitism was studied by genetically manipulating the gene that encodes Ech42, ech42. We constructed several
transgenic T. harzianum strains carrying multiple
copies of ech42 and the corresponding gene disruptants. The
level of extracellular endochitinase activity when T. harzianum was grown under inducing conditions increased up to
42-fold in multicopy strains as compared with the wild type, whereas
gene disruptants exhibited practically no activity. The densities of
chitin labeling of Rhizoctonia solani cell walls, after
interactions with gene disruptants were not statistically significantly
different than the density of chitin labeling after interactions
with the wild type. Finally, no major differences in the efficacies of
the strains generated as biocontrol agents against R. solani or Sclerotium rolfsii were observed in greenhouse experiments.
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Role of the Trichoderma harzianum
Endochitinase Gene, ech42, in Mycoparasitism
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro de
Investigación y Estudios Avanzados, Unidad Irapuato, A.P. 629, 36500 Irapuato, Gto., Mexico. Phone: 52 462 39658. Fax: 52 462 45849. E-mail: aherrera{at}irapuato.ira.cinvestav.mx.
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