Plant Pathology (2012) 61, 689-699

D. Vitullo, A. Di Pietro, A. Romano, V. Lanzotti and G. Lima (2012)
Role of new bacterial surfactins in the antifungal interaction between Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Fusarium oxysporum
Plant Pathology 61 (4), 689-699
Abstract: The aim of this work was to investigate the major mechanisms involved in antagonism of BO7, a novel strain of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens isolated from orchard soil, against the vascular wilt fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol). BO7 markedly reduced the incidence of Fol vascular wilt on tomato plants and displayed strong in vitro inhibitory activity against Fol. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated the ability of BO7 cells to adhere to fungal hyphae and to efficiently colonize tomato roots. The low molecular weight fraction of BO7 culture filtrate displayed high antifungal activity against Fol, resulting in growth inhibition and dramatic alterations of hyphal morphology. Three structurally related surfactin lipopeptides, identified as the major components of the bioactive fraction, were assayed for their inhibitory activity against Fol. One of these compounds exerted a strong and uncommon antifungal activity for lipopeptides of the surfactin family, accounting for most of the inhibitory activity of the BO7 culture filtrate. Among a collection of Fol knockout isolates tested, mutants altered in cell wall structure showed increased sensitivity to the bacterial compounds. These results suggest that the fungal cell wall might have a key role in the sensitivity of Fol towards bacterial surfactins from B. amyloliquefaciens.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Giuseppe Lima, Antonio Di Pietro

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
molecular biology - genes
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Fusarium languescens	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (antagonist)	Fusarium languescens	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
	Fusarium oxysporum