Molecular Markers and Their Use in Taxonomic Characterization of Trichoderma spp

Abstract

Species of Hypocrea/Trichoderma are universally reported from decaying woody substrata and diverse soil samples. Different strains of Trichoderma are explored for their industrial relevant enzymes, plant growth promotion as well as biocontrol agent and plant immune response modulator attributes both locally and systematically. The accurate species/strain identification of Hypocrea/Trichoderma is an important issue. Due to plasticity in phenetic characters, identification based on morphological features like ascospore color, stromal anatomy, growth rate etc. is difficult to apply for Hypocrea/Trichoderma strains. Use of molecular markers either in single or more than one have been used for concordant identification and differentiation of Hyprocrea/Trichoderma strains. In this book chapter, role of different molecular markers in taxonomic identification of Hyprocrea/Trichoderma strains is given.