Once upon a time: a ten-year history of biocontrol against Fusarium Head Blight
Sabrina Sarrocco: University of Pisa, DISAAA-a
<div>In view of developing novel, eco-friendly and sustainable tools to reduce the incidence of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) on wheat and prevent mycotoxins from entering the food chain, focus of our research activity has been, for many years, the use of beneficial fungi against <em>Fusarium graminearum</em>, one of the main causal agents of the disease.</p> <p><em>Trichoderma gamsii</em> T6085 is a well known mycoparasite, can positively control pathogen’s growth and mycotoxin (DON) production and reduce FHB incidence in field. T6085 was also used together with a <em>Fusarium oxysporum</em> isolate in competition tests for natural substrates, including cultural debris, where <em>F. graminearum</em> growth, trichothecene production and perithecia development were significantly reduced. One of the most interesting and promising aspects of this test was that, when used together, no antagonistic or competitive interactions between the two beneficial fungi were registered, leaving open the possibility of a combined use in a multitrophic approach.</p> <p>A transcriptomic analysis was recently performed to study differentially expressed genes by <em>T. gamsii</em> T6085 and <em>F. graminearum</em> during the sensing phase (i.e., before physical contact) of their mycoparasitic interaction.</p> <p>Finally, the CRIPR-Cas9 technique is under investigation in <em>T. gamsii</em> T6085 and <em>F. graminearum</em> to edit genes putatively involved in plant/pathogen and antagonist/pathogen interaction in order to further investigate aspects connected with the biocontrol of FHB.</div>
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