Salt stress is a major environmental factor that inhibits crop growth.  Trichoderma spp. are the most efficient biocontrol fungi and some of the strains can stimulate plant growth.  Phosphate solubilization is known as one of the main mechanisms in promoting plant growth, but the underlying mechanisms of phosphate solubilization in the salinity still need to be explored.  The Trichoderma asperellum Q1 isolated and identified in our lab is a beneficial rhizosphere biocontrol fungus with a high phosphate solubilization activity.  It could produce acid and alkaline phosphatases when using insoluble organic phosphorus as the sole phosphorus source, the salt stress increased the phosphorus-solubilization ability of the strain and the activities of the two enzymes.  Furthermore, an acid phosphatase was purified from the fermentation broth by ammonium sulphate precipitation, ion-exchange, and gel filtration chromatography.  Its molecular weight was 55 kDa as determined by SDS-PAGE.  The purified acid phosphatase was used to investigate growth performance of Arabidopsis thaliana by plate assay and the result showed that it contributed to Arabidopsis growth by transforming organic phosphate into a soluble inorganic form under salt stress.  To our knowledge, this is the first report on acid phosphatase purification from T. asperellum and its function in regulation of plant growth under salt stress.

Coccidiosis is caused by intra-cellular infection of Eimeria spp., which goes through a complex life cycle in the intestinal mucosa of infected hosts. Specific immunoglobulins (IgY) could be produced in egg yolk by immunizing hens with specific antigens. In the present study, we cloned the E. maxima gam56 gene, expressed the GST-GAM56 fusion protein and raised IgY to GST-GAM56 in hens. The anti-GST-GAM56 IgY antibody was isolated and used to treat chickens infected with E. maxima oocysts. Intramuscular injection of the antibodies provided minimal protection against parasite infection. However, oral dosing of the IgY 3 or 5 d after oocyst inoculation significantly improved body weight gain, reduced oocyst output and intestinal lesion score were reduced at 3 or 5 d after oocyst challenging, compared to the untreated control group. Our findings suggest that the IgY to gam56 could be an effective prophylactic or therapeutic agent against E. maxima infection in chickens and should have a practical application value.