Multi-omics tools for understanding Trichoderma-plant symbiosis: biotechnological developments and future directions

Abstract

In the era where food security is one of the challenges caused by global food demand, understanding the strategies needed is a must. Chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides have been used over decades to increase crop production. This practise however causes detrimental effects to human and environment in the long run. To replace the dependency on chemical fertilizer, usage of a sustainable microbe-based fertilizer has become a recent focus. Trichoderma, a plant growth-promoting fungi have been reported to promote plant growth and development in wide variety of crops. This fungus is able to enhance plant growth performance and indirectly protecting plants from phytopathogens and abiotic stresses through the induction of plant defence systems. The ability of this genus to confer beneficial effects lie in the complex fungal-plant interactions. Multi-omics, a molecular technology offers great potential to be used in providing detailed understanding on how Trichoderma interacts with the host plants vice versa. Although the knowledge of the actual mechanisms is still lacking, many studies have been conducted following the current multi-omics biotechnological advancements. This article reviews current findings on the biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved during Trichoderma and host plant interaction using multi-omics approaches. This will act as a reference for future studies that focus on the integration of different omics technologies.