title: Fungal Plant Pathogens (Plant Science / Horticulture)
author: Charles R. Lane
description: Charles R. Lane is at the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), UK.
zlib_text: Benefits of Chitinolytic Rhizosphere Bacteria?
  W. de Boer and J.A. van Veen
  7
  7
  Are Chitinolytic Rhizosphere
  Bacteria Really Beneficial to
  Plants?
  W. de Boer and J.A. van Veen
  Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Centre for Terrestrial Ecology,
  Department of Plant–Microorganism Interactions, PO Box 40,
  6666 ZG Heteren, The Netherlands
  Background
  In the early 1960s, Mitchell and Alexander published several papers about
  mycolytic activities of chitinolytic soil bacilli and pseudomonads (Mitchell
  and Alexander, 1961, 1963). They postulated that fungal cell walls, which
  contain chitin as a structural component, could be degraded by the action of
  bacterial chitinases. More recent research using purified chitinases, chitinase-
  negative
  mutants
  and
  chitinase-positive
  transformants
  have
  clearly
  demonstrated the involvement of chitinases in mycolysis (Sundheim et al.,
  1988; Chet et al., 1990; Lim et al., 1991; Chernin et al., 1997). It is now evident
  that especially the hyphal apex, which contains