Sabine G. Gruber

• PhD
• Principal Investigator at FH Campus Vienna/Uni Innsbruck

Although many cellular components of Trichoderma have been extensively studied in recent decades, little is known about their cell wall composition. Here, we provide new insights in the fungal cell wall as an organelle and virulence factor. We summarize current results on the role of chitin synthases, chitin deacetylases, chitinases, and chitosanas...

Fungal cell walls are dynamic extracellular matrices that enable efficient adaptation to changing environments. While the cell wall compositions of yeasts, human, and plant pathogenic fungi have been studied to some extent, the cell walls of mycoparasites remain poorly characterized. Trichoderma species comprise a diverse group of soil fungi with d...

The majority of all fungal formulations contain Trichoderma spp., making them effective biological control agents for agriculture. Chitosan, one of the most effective natural biopolymers, was also reported as a plant resistance enhancer and as a biocide against a variety of plant pathogens. An in vitro three-way interaction assay of T. atroviride,...

Fungal parasitism depends on the ability to invade host organisms and mandates adaptive cell wall remodeling to avoid detection and defense reactions by the host. All plant and human pathogens share invasive strategies, which aid to escape the chitin-triggered and chitin-targeted host immune system. Here we describe the full spectrum of the chitin/...

Mycoparasites, e.g. fungi feeding on other fungi, are prominent within the genus Trichoderma and represent a promising alternative to chemical fungicides for plant disease control. We previously showed that the seven-transmembrane receptor Gpr1 regulates mycelial growth and asexual development and governs mycoparasitism-related processes in Trichod...

Aquaporins (AQPs) and aquaglyceroporins (AQGPs) are integral membrane proteins that mediate transport of water and a variety of low molecular weight solutes across biomembranes. We previously identified a gene encoding an AQGPs in Trichoderma harzianum that is up-regulated during biocontrol against Fusarium sp. and has biotechnological applications...

The cell wall of (filamentous) fungi serves as armor against attacks by other organisms or hostile environments as well as a disguise in (phyto-)pathogenic and plant beneficial species to circumvent host defense mechanisms. Next to glucans, chitin is one of the major components of the cell wall that confers strength and rigidity but contributes als...

The flexible and transformable cell wall reacts fast to changing environments and prevents host defense mechanisms in (phyto-)pathogenic and plant beneficial fungi. Next to glucans, chitin is one of the major components of the cell wall that confers strength and rigidity but contributes also to its flexibility. Fungal chitin chains are chiral heter...

Supporting Information on Chemicals and MALDI MSI Sample Preparation Supplemental Figure S1 Supplemental Figure 2 Supplemental Figure 3 Supplemental Figure 4 Supplemental Figure S5 and S6 Supplemental Figure 7

Gene cluster Peptaibiotics Secondary metabolites Trichoderma VOCs a b s t r a c t Species of the genus Trichoderma inhabit diverse environments and undergo a variety of interactions with different other organisms. Mycoparasitic Trichoderma species are successfully applied as bio-fungicides due to their plant-protecting abilities and they are prolif...

Studying microbial interactions by MALDI mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) directly from growing media is a difficult task if high sensitivity is demanded. We present a quick and robust sample preparation strategy for growing fungi (Trichoderma atroviride, Rhizoctonia solani) on glass slides to establish a miniaturized confrontation assay. By this we...

The Trichoderma atroviride 7-transmembrane receptor Gpr1 is essential for fungal mycoparasitism and interacts with a Sur7 family membrane protein S. Zeilinger,1,2 S. Gruber,2 T. Radebner2 and A. Lichius2 1Universit€at Innsbruck, Institut f€ur Mikrobiologie, Innsbruck, Austria and 2Technische Universit€at Wien, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Wie...

Mycoparasitic species of the fungal genus Trichoderma are potent antagonists able to combat plant pathogenic fungi by direct parasitism. An essential step in this mycoparasitic fungus-fungus interaction is the detection of the fungal host followed by activation of molecular weapons in the mycoparasite by host-derived signals. The Trichoderma atrovi...

Fungi of the genus Trichoderma display an outstanding adaptability to various ecological conditions and the antagonism and parasitism of other fungi is widespread among Trichoderma species. Besides being able to sense the presence of a prey fungus already from a distance, which implies the involvement of respective cell surface receptors that respo...

Description Biotechnology and Biology of Trichoderma serves as a comprehensive reference on the chemistry and biochemistry of one of the most important microbial agents, Trichoderma, and its use in an increased number of industrial bioprocesses for the synthesis of many biochemicals such as pharmaceuticals and biofuels. This book provides individu...

Background Eukaryotic organisms employ cell surface receptors such as the seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) as sensors to connect to the environment. GPCRs react to a variety of extracellular cues and are considered to play central roles in the signal transduction in fungi. Several species of the filamentous ascomycete Trichod...

Background Trichoderma is a genus of mycotrophic filamentous fungi (teleomorph Hypocrea) which possess a bright variety of biotrophic and saprotrophic lifestyles. The ability to parasitize and/or kill other fungi (mycoparasitism) is used in plant protection against soil-borne fungal diseases (biological control, or biocontrol). To investigate mecha...

List of Trichoderma reesei genes, which expression has been significantly changed in response to mycoparasitism to R. solani.Table S2. List of Trichoderma virens genes, which expression has been significantly changed in response to mycoparasitism to R. solani.Table S3. List of Trichoderma atroviride genes, which expression has been significantly ch...

The protein EPL1 from the fungus Trichoderma atroviride belongs to the cerato-platanin protein family. These proteins occur only in filamentous fungi and are associated with the induction of defense responses in plants and allergic reactions in humans. However, fungi with other lifestyles also express cerato-platanin proteins, and the primary funct...

Background Species of the fungal genus Trichoderma are important industrial producers of cellulases and hemicellulases, but also widely used as biocontrol agents (BCAs) in agriculture. In the latter function Trichoderma species stimulate plant growth, induce plant defense and directly antagonize plant pathogenic fungi through their mycoparasitic ca...

Phenotype of nptII / tga3Q207L co-transformants on PDA and PDA + 80μg/ml geneticin. The figure shows the colony morphology of co-transformants 3/3 and 4/5 (with ectopic integration of the tga3Q207L gene) and co-transformant 2/1 (with homologous integration of the tga3Q207L gene) grown on PDA and PDA + 80μg/ml geneticin for 4 days at 28°C in the dar...

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a re-emerging wheat disease that causes extensive damage through direct losses in yield and quality due to the presence of damaged Fusarium kernels and their associated mycotoxins such as the trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON). Biological control, including the treatment of crop residues with antagonists, in order to r...

Lysis of the prey's cell wall is one of the key steps during mycoparasitism. Genome analysis of two mycoparasitic Trichoderma species, T. atroviride and T. virens, revealed an expanded arsenal of genes encoding enzymes potentially involved in cell wall hydrolysis. Glycoside hydrolase family 18, which contains all fungal chitinases, is the largest f...

Mycoparasitic Trichoderma species have expanded numbers of fungal subgroup C chitinases that contain multiple carbohydrate binding modules and could thus be important for fungal cell wall degradation during the mycoparasitic attack. In this study, we analyzed the gene regulation of subgroup C chitinases in the mycoparasite Trichoderma virens. In ad...

Figures that illustrate selected aspects of the main text. Figure S1 provides a phylogeny of Trichoderma NPRSs. Figure S2 compares the numbers of epoxide hydrolase genes in Trichoderma with that in other fungi. Figure S3 compares the codon usage in genes from syntenic and nonsyntenic regions of the genomes of Trichoderma reesei, T. atroviride and T...

Comparative properties and gene inventory of T. reesei, T. virens and T. atroviride. This file contains additional information on genomic properties and selected gene families from the three Trichoderma species comprising 19 tables. Table S1 summarizes the satellite sequences identified in the Trichoderma genomes and four other fungal genomes. Tabl...

Additional information on selected gene groups of Trichoderma, methods used for genome sequencing, and legends for the figures in Additional file 3. Chapter 1: Carbohydrate-Active enzymes (CAZymes). Chapter 2: Aegerolysins and other toxins. Chapter 3: Small secreted cysteine rich proteins (SSCPs). Chapter 4: EST sequencing and analysis. Chapter 5:...

Mycoparasitism, a lifestyle where one fungus is parasitic on another fungus, has special relevance when the prey is a plant pathogen, providing a strategy for biological control of pests for plant protection. Probably, the most studied biocontrol agents are species of the genus Hypocrea/Trichoderma. Here we report an analysis of the genome sequence...

The potential biological functions of fungal chitinases cover a plethora of different aspects including cell wall remodeling during the fungal life cycle and degradation of exogenous chitin as nutrient source. Genome analysis of the mycoparasitic fungi Trichoderma atroviride and T. virens showed that these fungi have an expanded arsenal of chitin d...

Hydrophobins are small proteins, characterised by the presence of eight positionally conserved cysteine residues, and are present in all filamentous asco- and basidiomycetes. They are found on the outer surfaces of cell walls of hyphae and conidia, where they mediate interactions between the fungus and the environment. Hydrophobins are conventional...

Fungi have a plethora of chitinases, which can be phylogenetically divided into three subgroups (A, B and C). Subgroup C (sgC) chitinases are especially interesting due to their multiple carbohydrate-binding modules, but they have not been investigated in detail yet. In this study, we analyzed sgC chitinases in the mycoparasites Trichoderma atrovir...

Hydrophobins are small proteins, characterized by the presence of eight positionally conserved cysteine residues, and are present in all filamentous asco- and basidiomycetes. They are found on the outer surfaces of cell walls of hyphae and conidia, where they mediate interactions between the fungus and the environment. Hydrophobins are conventiona...

Gene fraction detected in the ESTs. this table attributes ESTs to KOG categories, and provides information of the gene number and fraction that is expressed for each KOG category.

Expression of sporulation specific genes in T. atroviride. this table lists EST numbers for selected genes known to be involved in conidiogenesis under conditions of mycoparasitism (MP), mycelial growth (MG), light induced conidiation (LI), and mechanical injury (IC).

Most abundantly expressed genes. this table lists EST numbers for the most abundantly expressed genes detected in this study. Abbreviation of conditions is as explained in Additional File S3.

Genes significantly overexpressed under mycoparaistic conditions. this table lists EST numbers for the most abundantly expressed genes detected under mycoparasitic conditions. Abbreviation of conditions is as explained in Additional File S3.

Metabolic subnetworks of T. atroviride under mycoparasitic (A, C and E) and mycelial growth (B, D and F) conditions. AB, CD, EF are pairs of contrasts to show the metabolic features under two conditions. AB show the subnetworks of common amino acid metabolism; CD show the subnetworks of sulfur amino acid related metabolic pathway; EF show the subne...

Primers used for RT-PCR. this table lists the primers used in this study, the corresponding protein ID of the respective gene and the annealing temperature.

Genebank accession numbers of ESTs created and used in the work. this table lists the ESTs, gene bank number, and number in the T. atroviride genome database. CCAH, mycoparasitic conditions; CBYT, mycelial growth; CBYP, light induced sporulation; CBWT, mechanical injury.

Properties of the EST collection used for this work. the table gives numbers of ESTs, clones, average reading length and variability of the EST collection.

Total list of genes identified in this study. this table lists number of all ESTs under the four conditions (abbreviated as in Additional File 3) and their identification obtained during this study.

Combating the action of plant pathogenic microorganisms by mycoparasitic fungi has been announced as an attractive biological alternative to the use of chemical fungicides since two decades. The fungal genus Trichoderma includes a high number of taxa which are able to recognize, combat and finally besiege and kill their prey. Only fragments of the...

IL-10 is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in the regulation of innate and cell-mediated immunity and a key mediator within the disturbed SLE immune system. IL-10 binds to IL10R1, which is expressed on a variety of immune cells and activates the JAK-STAT pathway. Two (out of several known) genetic IL10R1 variants may alter IL-10 binding or signal tra...

Trichoderma sp. are filamentous cosmopolitan fungi, commonly found in soil. The mycoparasitesT. atroviride and T. virens are able to attack and destroy other fungi and are therefore used in agriculture as biological control agents against fungal pathogens. Fungal chitinases belong to glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 18, and are involved in degradat...

Human IL-10 (hIL-10) signaling is mediated by receptors consisting of two subunits, IL-10 receptor 1 (IL-10R1) and IL-10 receptor 2. Two common variants of the IL-10R1 (Ser 138 Gly (single-nucleotide polymorphism 3, SNP3) and Gly 330 Arg (SNP4)) are associated with diverse disease phenotypes. Viral homologs to hIL-10, such as cmvIL-10, utilize the...

Genetic predisposition is a risk factor for the development of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Disruption of the interleukin (IL)-10 pathway in mice causes intestinal inflammation similar to human IBD. Two common non-synonymous IL-10R1 variants, S138G and G330R, were cloned and expressed in HeLa and Ba/F3. A reduction in IL-10-induced STAT1 and...

On Mar 24, 2009 this sequence version replaced gi:220701882.

On Mar 24, 2009 this sequence version replaced gi:220701904.