Extracellular serine proteases as virulence factors in nematophagous fungi: Molecular characterization and functional analysis of the PII protease in Arthrobotrys oligospora
Nematophagous fungi are parasites of nematodes, thus they have been considered and tested for biological control of parasitic nematodes, but so far with limited success. Due to the fact that the nematode cuticle is composed of proteins it is likely that fungal extracellular proteases are involved in the infection of nematodes. I have isolated a gene (designated PII) encoding an extracellular cutic