Nematophagous Fungi as an Extraordinary Tool to Control Parasitic Nematodes: A Review

REVIEW

Elkhateeb WA, EL-Ghwas DE and Daba GM

Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Products Department, Pharmaceuticals Industries Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt 12622

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to WAE

Received: 02-12-2022 Accepted: 09-01-2023 Published: 16-01-2023

Abstract

Due to the harmful impacts of using chemicals in controlling plant pests as nematodes, there is a current trend of employing natural pesticides that show potency together without contaminating the environment or negatively affect human and other creatures. Hence, the name of nematophagous fungi has risen as potent biocontrol tools that attack nematodes specifically without harming surrounding ecosystem. Different nematophagous fungal species act as natural predators of nematodes and soil-dwelling worms. Hence, we aimed in this review to discuss importance of nematophagous fungi, their occurrence, taxonomy and evolution. Also, describing examples of using nematophagous fungi as biological control agents. Moreover, the future of employing nematophagous fungi in general and mushrooms in particular in this field is highlighted.

Keywords: Nematophagous fungi; Biological control; Anti-nematodes; Mushrooms; Parasites

Citation: Elkhateeb WA, EL-Ghwas DE and Daba GM (2023) Nematophagous Fungi as an Extraordinary Tool to Control Parasitic Nematodes: A Review. Environ Sci Arch 2(1):52-58. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7540410

References

Ahman J, Olsson M, Johansson T, et al. (2002) Improving the pathogenicity of a nematodetrapping fungus by genetic engineering of subtilisin with nematotoxic activity. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 68: 3408–3415.

Ahren D, Faedo M, Rajashekar B and Tunlid A (2004) Low genetic diversity among isolates of the nematode-trapping fungus Duddingtonia flagrans – evidence for a recent worldwide dispersion from a single common ancestor. Mycological Research 108: 1205–1214.

Barron GL, Dierkes Y (1977) Nematophagous fungi: Hohenbuehelia, the perfect state of Nematoctonus. Canadian Journal of Botany 55(24), pp.3054-3062.

Bourne JM, Kerry BR, De Leij FAAM (1996) The importance of the host plant on the interaction between root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) and the nematophagous fungus, Verticillium chlamydosporium Goddard. Biocontrol Science and Technology 6: 539–548.

License: Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. Visit for more details http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7540410