ABSTRACT

The mesophilic soft-rot fungi Trichoderma, in particular Trichoderma reesei, are without doubt the best-studied cellulolytic microorganisms. Trichoderma was “discovered” in Southeast Asia during the Second World War, where its ability to destroy cotton clothes and tents brought it to the attention of the U.S. Army. About 1950, Dr. Elwyn T. Reese and his coworkers of the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories identified Trichoderma strains producing a complete set of cellulase enzymes required for the breakdown of cellulose to glucose. In 1977, the T. viride strain Qm 6a, the ancestor of many mutant families developed throughout the world, was characterized as a distinct species of T. longibrachiatum group and was renamed T. reesei (Simmons, 1977).