A Bacillus velezensis strain shows antimicrobial activity against soilborne and foliar fungi and oomycetes

Author(s)Wockenfuss, Anna
Author(s)Chan, Kevin
Author(s)Cooper, Jessica G.
Author(s)Chaya, Timothy
Author(s)Mauriello, Megan A.
Author(s)Yannarell, Sarah M.
Author(s)Maresca, Julia A.
Author(s)Donofrio, Nicole M.
Date Accessioned2024-04-18T18:58:58Z
Date Available2024-04-18T18:58:58Z
Publication Date2024-02-23
DescriptionThis article was originally published in Frontiers in Fungal Biology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2024.1332755. © 2024 Wockenfuss, Chan, Cooper, Chaya, Mauriello, Yannarell, Maresca and Donofrio. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY)(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
AbstractBiological control uses naturally occurring antagonists such as bacteria or fungi for environmentally friendly control of plant pathogens. Bacillus spp. have been used for biocontrol of numerous plant and insect pests and are well-known to synthesize a variety of bioactive secondary metabolites. We hypothesized that bacteria isolated from agricultural soil would be effective antagonists of soilborne fungal pathogens. Here, we show that the Delaware soil isolate Bacillus velezensis strain S4 has in vitro activity against soilborne and foliar plant pathogenic fungi, including two with a large host range, and one oomycete. Further, this strain shows putative protease and cellulase activity, consistent with our prior finding that the genome of this organism is highly enriched in antifungal and antimicrobial biosynthetic gene clusters. We demonstrate that this bacterium causes changes to the fungal and oomycete hyphae at the inhibition zone, with some of the hyphae forming bubble-like structures and irregular branching. We tested strain S4 against Magnaporthe oryzae spores, which typically form germ tubes and penetration structures called appressoria, on the surface of the leaf. Our results suggest that after 12 hours of incubation with the bacterium, fungal spores form germ tubes, but instead of producing appressoria, they appear to form rounded, bubble-like structures. Future work will investigate whether a single antifungal molecule induces all these effects, or if they are the result of a combination of bacterially produced antimicrobials.
SponsorThe author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. University of Delaware’s Graduate College and Microbiology Graduate Program provided stipend funding in part for the graduate students AW and MM. KC was funded in part through University of Delaware Undergraduate Research and CANR Unique Strengths summer internship. Microscopy was funded by grants from NIH-NIGMS (P20 GM103446) and NIGMS (P20 GM139760).
CitationWockenfuss A, Chan K, Cooper JG, Chaya T, Mauriello MA, Yannarell SM, Maresca JA and Donofrio NM (2024) A Bacillus velezensis strain shows antimicrobial activity against soilborne and foliar fungi and oomycetes. Front. Fungal Biol. 5:1332755. doi: 10.3389/ffunb.2024.1332755
ISSN2673-6128
URLhttps://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/34295
Languageen_US
PublisherFrontiers in Fungal Biology
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywordsbiocontrol agent
Keywordsantifungals
KeywordsMagnaporthe oryzae
Keywordsappressorial formation
Keywordsplant pathogens
Keywordshyphae
TitleA Bacillus velezensis strain shows antimicrobial activity against soilborne and foliar fungi and oomycetes
TypeArticle
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