Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of CryⅠA(b) gene to Trichoderma harzianum

In this study, CryⅠA(b) gene was successfully transferred into the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma har- zianum with an efficiency of 60—180 transformants per 106 spores by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated trans- formation. Putative transformants were analyzed to test the presence of CryⅠA(b) gene by Southern blot. Most trans- formants contained a single T-DNA copy. RT-PCR analysis showed that the CryⅠA(b) gene was transcribed. Antifungal activities and insecticidal activities of the transformants were examined. There was no obvious difference in antifungal activities between the transformants and their wild strains. The modified mortalities of the transformants T1 and T2 were 69.57% and 91.30%, respectively. The tranformation system mediated by A. tumefaciens proved to be a powerful tool for the filamentous fungi transformation and functional genomic study with its high transformation frequency, sim- plicity of T-DNA integration, and genetic stability of transformants.