pseudintermedius exfoliative toxins. This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research

(to K.N. and J.H.) and by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas ‘Applied Genomics’ (to M.S.) and ‘Comprehensive Genomics’ (to M.H.) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. K.I. and J.H. contributed equally to this study. “
“Trichoderma spp. are well-known biocontrol agents because of their antimicrobial activity against bacterial and fungal phytopathogens. However, the biochemical mechanism of their antiviral activity remains largely unknown. In this study, we found that Trichokonins, antimicrobial peptaibols isolated from Trichoderma pseudokoningii SMF2, could

induce defense responses and systemic resistance in tobacco (Nicotiana STA-9090 concentration tabacum var. Samsun NN) against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection. Local Trichokonin (100 nM) treatment selleck compound led to 54% lesion inhibition, 57% reduction in average lesion diameter and 30% reduction in average lesion area in systemic tissue of tobacco compared with control, indicating that Trichokonins induced resistance in tobacco against TMV infection. Trichokonin treatment increased the production of reactive oxygen species and phenolic compounds in tobacco. Additionally, application of Trichokonins significantly increased activities of pathogenesis-related enzymes PAL and POD, and upregulated the expression of several plant defense genes. These results suggested that multiple defense pathways in tobacco were involved in Trichokonin-mediated TMV resistance. We report on the antivirus mechanism of peptaibols, which sheds light on the potential of peptaibols in plant viral disease control. In past decades, attention has been paid to the development of biological control agents that are efficient, reliable and safe to the environment

(Lyon & Newton, 1997). Among the biological control agents that have shown a satisfactory degree of control of pathogens, some Trichoderma spp. are well-known for their ability to reduce disease incidence by inhibiting growth and development of fungal and Astemizole bacterial plant pathogens and inducing plant defense reactions (Yedidia et al., 1999; Segarra et al., 2009). Although the antimicrobial activity of Trichoderma spp. against fungi and bacteria and the involved mechanisms have been widely studied (Howell, 2003; Harman et al., 2004), the antiviral effect of Trichoderma spp. and the underlying biochemical and molecular mechanisms are still unknown. Peptaibols, mainly identified from Trichoderma spp., play an important role in the antimicrobial activities of these biocontrol fungi (Daniel & Filho, 2007). At present, 316 peptaibols have been identified, >60% of which are from Trichoderma spp. (http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/peptaibol/home.shtml).