Peptaibols of Trichoderma

The fungal genus Trichoderma has various applications in industry and in medicine, and several species have economic importance as sources of enzymes, antibiotics, plant growth promoters, decomposers of xenobiotics, and as commercial biofungicides. Peptaibiotics and peptaibols are a class of linear peptides synthesized by such fungi, and more than 300 have been described to date. Of this class, those compounds exhibiting antimicrobial activity are referred to as 'antibiotic peptides'. In this review, the biosynthesis, fermentation, structure elucidation ( by MS and NMR techniques in particular) and biological activity of antibiotic peptides from Trichoderma species are described.