Team:ZJU-China

THE SWORD

Like most stories, the warrior needs the sword to conquer the devil. To control such a thorny problem, we plan to utilize the engineered Trichoderma as an interface to sense as well as indicate the signal of invading pathogenic fungi, and further make Trichoderma inhibit the P.nicotianae.

THE EVIL

Black shank is a serious plant disease caused by Phytophthora nicotianae, which mainly targets at the tobacco, an important cash crop . However, there’s no efficient methods to control the pathogenic fungi. P.nicotianae is the evil and the nightmare of many others solanaceous plants.

THE WARRIOR

Trichoderma, a widespread biocontrol agent, is the most widely used endophyote in agriculture. Compared with many other plant-associated microbes, he has unique advantages. Gathering around the roots, Trichoderma can grow its hypha into the root cortex to affect plants more strongly. In a word, he’s the talented warrior.