Degradation of melanin or inhibition of its synthesis: are these a significant approach as a biological control of phytopathogenic fungi?

Many fungal plant pathogens produce melanins that play direct or indirect roles in the infection process. Destruction of the melanin or inhibition of its synthesis by biological control agents may be a fruitful area for study. We discuss approaches towards control of phytopathogenic fungi that produce melanin, namely inhibition of its synthesis and degradation of intact fungal melanin in the cell wall, which would render otherwise resistant melanized fungal bodies susceptible to decay. We provide a discussion of the analytical procedures that can be used to prove that fungal melanin has been degraded and discuss the common pitfalls still seen in published reports involving analysis of fungal melanins. These caveats are intended to be applied to studies on the degradation of fungal melanins as a biological control strategy against melanized fungal pathogens. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.