INTERBAC · Molecular and cellular interactions between the plant protective bacterium Bacillus subtilus 49b and the plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum causing tomato root and foot rot
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2006-09-11 → 2008-09-10
- EU contribution
- €213,704
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- EIF
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Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - INTERBAC (Molecular and cellular interactions between the plant protective bacterium Bacillus subtilus 49b and the plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum ...)
Biocontrol of phytopathogenic fungi by Bacillus subtilis is accomplished by antibiosis, induced systemic resistance, competition for nutrients and niches or plant growth promotion. This study focuses on mechanisms involved in the biocontrol activity of Bacillus subtilis strain B49b against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis lycopersici strain ZUM 2407 (FORL), which causes tomato foot and root rot. In vitro and in vivo assays demonstrated antagonistic activity of strain B49b against FORL and biocontrol of tomato foot and root rot. The B49b strain was characterised for abilities that might play a role in its biocontrol activity like protease and lactonase secretion, motility and production of antifungal metabolites. TLC and HPLC analyses indicated that strain B49b is producing the antibiotics Iturin A and surfactin. In order to visualise the interaction between the B. subtilis strain and the FORL hyphae, as well as the ability to colonize the tomato roots, B. subtilis B49b was transformed with the gfp expressing plasmid pAD44-12 (Dunn and Handelsman, 1999) by electroporation. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the successful introduction of a GFP marker gene in a undomesticated B. subtilis strain, enabling the direct observation of this promising biocontrol strain on tomato roots in situ.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Fungal attack leads to major agricultural crop losses. Use of chemical pesticides to suppress fungal pathogens forms a threat to the environment and human health since some of these pesticides are very persistent and hazardous. Development of environmental friendly disease control strategies, such as biological control based on the use of protective microorganims, is highly required.The efficacy of biocontrol agents (when applied as an inoculant) is not always consistent. Fundamental knowledge on the inter actions between the fungus and the biocontrol bacterium is required to understand how the biocontrol bacterium functions at the cellular and molecular level, which forms the basis for the biocontrol effect, and which will contribute to an improved inoculum application.This study will focus on the biocontrol bacterium Bacillus subtilus strain 49b, which is able to protect tomato roots against the attack of the phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum. Bacillus bacteria are very suited for inoculum production since they form heat and drought resistant spores. One of the mechanism through which biocontrol of strain 49b might function is its production of anti fungal metabolites (antibiotics), which after a first analysis seem to be of an unknown class.The project aims at an integrative approach of biochemical, genetic and microscopic analyses to elucidate the biocontrol mechanism(s) of B. subtilus strain b49. State of the art equipment and methods, including confocal laser scanning microscopy and microarray analysis, will be applied to study the interaction of B. subtilus with the target fungus on the tomato root.The project will result in the identification of the anti fungal metabolites, elucidate their relevance for biocontrol, identify genes that are relevant for biocontrol ability of B. subtilus. Microscopy studies will visualize the interactions between B. subtilus strain 49b (and mutant derivates) and F. oxysporum at the cellular level.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- LEIDEN UNIVERSITY · LEIDENCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union