A mycoparasite is an organism with the ability to parasitize Fungus.
Mycoparasites might be Symbiosis or necrotrophic, depending on the type of interaction with their host.
Types of mycoparasitic organisms
Myco-heterotrophy
Various
plants may be considered mycoparasites, in that they parasitize and acquire most of their nutrition from fungi during a part or all of their life cycle. These include many
Orchidaceae seedlings, as well as some plants that lack chlorophyll such as
Monotropa uniflora. Mycoparasitic plants are more precisely described as myco-heterotrophs.
Mycoparasitic bacteria
Some
bacteria live on or within fungal cells as parasites or symbionts.
Mycoparasitic viruses
Some
viruses, called
live on or within fungal cells as parasites or symbionts.
Mycoparasitic fungi
Many mycoparasites are
Fungus, though not all
fungicolous fungi are
Parasitism (some are
Commensalism or saprobes.
)
Symbiosis mycoparasites acquire nutrients from living host cells. Necrotrophic mycoparasites rely on dead host cells, which they might first kill with toxins or enzymes (saprophytic growth).
Kinds of mycoparasitic interactions
Biotrophic and necrotrophic mycoparasites
Biotrophic mycoparasites get nutrients from living host cells and growth of these parasites is greatly influenced by the metabolism of the host.
Biotrophic mycoparasites tend to show high host specificity, and often form specialized infection structures.
Necrotrophic mycoparasites can be aggressively antagonistic, invading the host fungus and killing, then digesting components of its cells. Necrotrophic parasites tend to have low host specificity, and are relatively unspecialized in their mechanism of parasitism.
Balanced and destructive mycoparasites
Balanced mycoparasites have little or no destructive effect on the host, whereas destructive mycoparasites have the opposite effect.
Biotrophic mycoparasites are generally considered to be balanced mycoparasites; necrotrophic mycoparasites use toxins or
to kill host cells, therefore necrotrophic mycoparasites are usually considered to be destructive mycoparasites. However, in some combinations, the parasite may live during its early development as a biotroph, then kill its host and act more like destructive mycoparasites in late stages of parasitization.
Mechanisms of Mycoparasitism
The four main steps of mycoparasitism include target location; recognition; contact and penetration; and nutrient acquisition.
Target location
Many research indicate that
growth direction,
spore germination, and
bud tube elongation of mycoparasitic fungi may exhibit
tropism in response to detection of a potential host.
This tropic recognition reaction is thought to arise from detection of signature chemicals of the host; the direction of the concentration gradient determines the growth direction of the parasite.
As the mycoparasitic interaction is host-specific and not merely a contact response, it is likely that signals from the host fungus are recognized by mycoparasites such as
Trichoderma and provoke transcription of mycoparasitism-related genes.
[ Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.]
Recognition
When mycoparasites contact their fungal host, they will recognize each other. This recognition between mycoparasites and their host fungi may be related to the agglutinin on the cell surface of the mycohost. Carbohydrate residues on the cell wall of mycoparasites might bind to
on the surface of the host fungi to achieve mutual recognition.
Contact and penetration
Once a mycoparasitic fungus and its host recognize each other, both may exhibit changes in external form and internal structure.
Different mycoparasitic fungi form different structures when interacting with their hosts. For example, the
of some mycoparasitic fungi form specialized contact cells resembling
haustoria on the hyphae of their hosts; others may coil around the hyphae of their host fungus or penetrate then grow inside host hyphae.
Nectrophic mycoparasites may kill host hyphae with toxins or enzymes before invading them.
Application
Mycoparasitic fungi can be important controls of plant disease fungi in natural systems and in agriculture, and may play a role in integrated pest management (IPM) as biological controls
Some Trichoderma species have been developed as biocontrols of a range of commercially important diseases,
Further study of mycoparasitism may drive discovery off more bioactive compounds including and .
| +List of fungal bioagents with their trade and manufacturers name |
| AQ10 biofungicide | Ampelomyces quisqualis
isolate M-10 | Ecogen, Inc. Israel |
| Anti-Fungus | Trichoderma spp. | Grondortsmettingen De Cuester, Belgium |
| Biofungus | Trichoderma spp. | Grondortsmettingen De
Cuester n. V.Belgium |
| Bas-derma | Trichoderma viride | Basarass Biocontrol Res.
Lab., India |
| Binab T | Trichoderma harzianum
(ATCC 20476) and
Trichoderma polysporum
(ATCC 20475) | Bio-Innovation AB, UK |
| Bioderma | Trichoderma viride/T. harzianum | Biotech International Ltd., India |
| Biofox C | Fusarium oxysporum (Non- pathogenic) | S. I. A. P. A., Italy |
| Prestop, Prirnastop | Gliocladium catenulatum | Kemira Agro. Oy, Finland |
| Root Pro, Root Prota to Soilgard | Trichoderma harzianum/Gliocladium virens strain
GL-21 | Efal Agr, Israel Thermo Trilogy, USA |
| Root shield, Plant shield,
T-22 Planter box | Trichoderma harzianum Rifai strain KRL-AG
(T-22) | Bioworks Inc., USA |
| Supresivit | Trichoderma harzianum | Borregaard and Reitzel, Czech Republic |
| T-22 G, T-22 HB | Trichoderma harzianum
strain KRL-AG2 | THT Inc., USA |
| Trichodex, Trichopel | Trichoderma harzianum | Makhteshim Chemical Works Ltd., USA |
| Trichopel, Trichoject, Trichodowels, Trichoseal | Trichoderma harzianum
and Trichoderma viride | Agrimm Technologies Ltd., New Zealand |
| Trichopel | Trichoderma harzianumand Trichoderma viride | Agrimm Technologies Ltd., New Zealand |
| Trichoderma 2000 | Trichoderma sp. | Myocontrol Ltd., Israel |
| Tri-control | Trichoderma spp. | Jeypee Biotechs, India |
| Trieco | Trichoderma viride | Ecosense Labs Pvt. Ltd.,
Mumbai, India |
| TY | Trichoderma sp. | Mycocontrol, Israel |
