scholarly journals Inhibition of Plant-Pathogenic Bacteria by Short Synthetic Cecropin A-Melittin Hybrid Peptides

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 3302-3308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Ferre ◽  
Esther Badosa ◽  
Lidia Feliu ◽  
Marta Planas ◽  
Emili Montesinos ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Short peptides of 11 residues were synthesized and tested against the economically important plant pathogenic bacteria Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas syringae, and Xanthomonas vesicatoria and compared to the previously described peptide Pep3 (WKLFKKILKVL-NH2). The antimicrobial activity of Pep3 and 22 analogues was evaluated in terms of the MIC and the 50% effective dose (ED50) for growth. Peptide cytotoxicity against human red blood cells and peptide stability toward protease degradation were also determined. Pep3 and several analogues inhibited growth of the three pathogens and had a bactericidal effect at low micromolar concentrations (ED50 of 1.3 to 7.3 μM). One of the analogues consisting of a replacement of both Trp and Val with Lys and Phe, respectively, resulted in a peptide with improved bactericidal activity and minimized cytotoxicity and susceptibility to protease degradation compared to Pep3. The best analogues can be considered as potential lead compounds for the development of new antimicrobial agents for use in plant protection either as components of pesticides or expressed in transgenic plants.

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (20) ◽  
pp. 6629-6636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arik Makovitzki ◽  
Ada Viterbo ◽  
Yariv Brotman ◽  
Ilan Chet ◽  
Yechiel Shai

ABSTRACT Plant diseases constitute an emerging threat to global food security. Many of the currently available antimicrobial agents for agriculture are highly toxic and nonbiodegradable and cause extended environmental pollution. Moreover, an increasing number of phytopathogens develop resistance to them. Recently, we have reported on a new family of ultrashort antimicrobial lipopeptides which are composed of only four amino acids linked to fatty acids (A. Makovitzki, D. Avrahami, and Y. Shai, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103:15997-16002, 2006). Here, we investigated the activities in vitro and in planta and the modes of action of these short lipopeptides against plant-pathogenic bacteria and fungi. They act rapidly, at low micromolar concentrations, on the membranes of the microorganisms via a lytic mechanism. In vitro microscopic analysis revealed wide-scale damage to the microorganism's membrane, in addition to inhibition of pathogen growth. In planta potent antifungal activity was demonstrated on cucumber fruits and leaves infected with the pathogen Botrytis cinerea as well as on corn leaves infected with Cochliobolus heterostrophus. Similarly, treatment with the lipopeptides of Arabidopsis leaves infected with the bacterial leaf pathogen Pseudomonas syringae efficiently and rapidly reduced the number of bacteria. Importantly, in contrast to what occurred with many native lipopeptides, no toxicity was observed on the plant tissues. These data suggest that the ultrashort lipopeptides could serve as native-like antimicrobial agents economically feasible for use in plant protection.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
William M. Rooney ◽  
Rhys Grinter ◽  
Annapaula Correia ◽  
Julian Parkhill ◽  
Daniel Walker ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPseudomonas syringae(Ps) and related plant pathogenic bacteria are responsible for losses in diverse crops such as tomato, kiwifruit, pepper, olive and soybean. Current solutions, involving the use of chemicals and the introduction of resistance genes, have enjoyed only limited success and may have adverse environmental impacts. Consequently, there is a pressing need to develop alternative technologies to address the problem of bacterial disease in crops. An alternative strategy is to utilise the narrow spectrum protein antibiotics (bacteriocins) used by diverse bacteria for competition against closely related species. Here, we demonstrate that active putidacin L1 (PL1) can be expressed at high levelsin plantaand expression of PL1 provides effective resistance against diverse pathovars ofPs.Furthermore, we found that strains which evolve to become insensitive to PL1; lose their O-antigen, exhibit reduced motility and are less virulent in PL1 transgenic plants. Our results provide proof-of-principle that transgene-mediated expression of a bacteriocinin plantais an effective strategy for providing disease resistance against bacterial pathogens. Genetically modified (GM) crops expressing insecticidal proteins have proved extremely successful as a strategy for pest management; expressing bacteriocins to control bacterial disease may have a similar potential. Crucially, nearly all genera of bacteria, including many plant pathogenic species, produce bacteriocins, providing an extensive source of these antimicrobial agents.SIGNIFICANCEWith the global population to surpass 9 billion by 2050 there is a huge demand to make industrial farming as efficient as possible. A disadvantage of industrial farming is the lack of genetic diversity within crop monocultures, which make them highly susceptible to diseases caused by plant pathogenic bacteria likePseudomonas syringae. Bacteriocins are narrow spectrum protein antibiotics which are produced by all major bacterial lineages. Their main purpose is to eliminate competitor strains to establish dominance within a niche. By arming plants with bacteriocins we can increase the genetic toolbox used to engineer crops to be resistant to specific bacterial plant pathogens.


2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (8) ◽  
pp. 2667-2675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imma Güell ◽  
Jordi Cabrefiga ◽  
Esther Badosa ◽  
Rafael Ferre ◽  
Montserrat Talleda ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA set of 31 undecapeptides, incorporating 1 to 11d-amino acids and derived from the antimicrobial peptide BP100 (KKLFKKILKYL-NH2), was designed and synthesized. This set was evaluated for inhibition of growth of the plant-pathogenic bacteriaErwinia amylovora,Pseudomonas syringaepv. syringae, andXanthomonas axonopodispv. vesicatoria, hemolysis, and protease degradation. Two derivatives were as active as BP100, and 10 peptides displayed improved activity, with the all-disomer being the most active. Twenty-six peptides were less hemolytic than BP100, and all peptides were more stable against protease degradation. Plant extracts inhibited the activity of BP100 as well as that of thed-isomers. Ten derivatives incorporating oned-amino acid each were tested in an infectivity inhibition assay with the three plant-pathogenic bacteria by using detached pear and pepper leaves and pear fruits. All 10 peptides studied were active againstE. amylovora, 6 displayed activity againstP. syringaepv. syringae, and 2 displayed activity againstX. axonopodispv. vesicatoria. Peptides BP143 (KKLFKKILKYL-NH2) and BP145 (KKLFKKILKYL-NH2), containing oned-amino acid at positions 4 and 2 (underlined), respectively, were evaluated in whole-plant assays for the control of bacterial blight of pepper and pear and fire blight of pear. Peptide BP143 was as effective as streptomycin in the three pathosystems, was more effective than BP100 against bacterial blight of pepper and pear, and equally effective against fire blight of pear.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 167-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Schollenberger ◽  
Tomasz M. Staniek ◽  
Elżbieta Paduch-Cichal ◽  
Beata Dasiewicz ◽  
Agnieszka Gadomska-Gajadhur ◽  
...  

Plant essential oils of six aromatic herb species and interspecies hybrids of the family Lamiaceae – chocolate mint (Mentha piperita × ‘Chocolate’), pineapple mint (Mentha suaveolens ‘Variegata’), apple mint (Mentha × rotundifolia), spearmint (Mentha spicata), orange mint (Mentha × piperita ‘Granada’) and strawberry mint (Mentha × villosa ‘Strawberry’) – were investigated for antimicrobial effects against plant pathogenic bacteria: Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and Xanthomonas arboricola pv. corylina. The screening was carried out in vitro on agar plates filled with the target organism. All essential oils screened exhibited a higher level of antibacterial activity against A. tumefaciens and X. arboricola pv. corylina than streptomycin used as a standard in all tests. The antimicrobial effect of streptomycin and five mint oils was at the same level for P. syringae pv. syringae. There were no significant differences in the influence of the chocolate mint oil on the growth inhibition of all bacteria tested. Plant essential oils from pineapple mint, apple mint, spearmint and strawberry mint showed the weakest antimicrobial activity against P. syringae pv. syringae and the strongest towards A. tumefaciens and X. arboricola pv. corylina. The essential oils from strawberry mint, pineapple mint, spearmint and apple mint had the strongest effect on A. tumefaciens, and the lowest inhibitory activity was exhibited by the chocolate mint and orange mint essential oils. X. arboricola pv. corylina was the most sensitive to the strawberry mint, pineapple mint and spearmint oils. The chocolate mint oil showed the greatest activity against P. syringae pv. syringae.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayako Furutani ◽  
Minako Takaoka ◽  
Harumi Sanada ◽  
Yukari Noguchi ◽  
Takashi Oku ◽  
...  

Many gram-negative bacteria secrete so-called effector proteins via a type III secretion (T3S) system. Through genome screening for genes encoding potential T3S effectors, 60 candidates were selected from rice pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae MAFF311018 using these criteria: i) homologs of known T3S effectors in plant-pathogenic bacteria, ii) genes with expression regulated by hrp regulatory protein HrpX, or iii) proteins with N-terminal amino acid patterns associated with T3S substrates of Pseudomonas syringae. Of effector candidates tested with the Bordetella pertussis calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase reporter for translocation into plant cells, 16 proteins were translocated in a T3S system-dependent manner. Of these 16 proteins, nine were homologs of known effectors in other plant-pathogenic bacteria and seven were not. Most of the effectors were widely conserved in Xanthomonas spp.; however, some were specific to X. oryzae. Interestingly, all these effectors were expressed in an HrpX-dependent manner, suggesting coregulation of effectors and the T3S system. In X. campestris pv. vesicatoria, HpaB and HpaC (HpaP in X. oryzae pv. oryzae) have a central role in recruiting T3S substrates to the secretion apparatus. Secretion of all but one effector was reduced in both HpaB– and HpaP– mutant strains, indicating that HpaB and HpaP are widely involved in efficient secretion of the effectors.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Aleksa Obradovic

Control of plant pathogenic bacteria is a serious problem in production of many agricultural crops. High multiplication rate, adaptability and life inside plant tissue make bacteria unsuitable and inaccessible for most of control measures. Consequently, the list of bactericides available for plant protection is very short. Lately, biological control measures have been intensively studied as a potential solution of the problem. Investigation of bacteriophages, viruses that attack bacteria, is a fast-expanding area of research in plant protection. Several experiments have shown that they can be used as a very efficient tool for control of plant pathogenic bacteria. The fact that they are widespread natural bacterial enemies, simple for cultivation and management, host-specific, suitable for integration with other control practices, human and environment friendly, provide a great advantage for the application of phages over other bactericides.


2009 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 256-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.L. Vanneste ◽  
D.A. Cornish ◽  
J. Yu ◽  
C.E. Morris

Pseudomonas syringae is a complex group of bacteria which comprises nine different genomospecies and over 50 pathovars Strains of P syringae have been isolated from some rivers and lakes in New Zealand To determine whether these waterways act as reservoirs of plant pathogenic bacteria 15 strains of P syringae isolated from the Waikato River and Whakapapanui stream have been further characterised using several polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocols Five of those 15 strains belong to genomospecies 1 which comprises P syringae pv syringae but none belongs to genomospecies 2 The protocol for detection of P syringae pv papulans was modified and is now specific for this pathovar The identity of a strain isolated from the Waikato River as being P syringae pv atrofaciens has yet to be confirmed None of the 15 strains studied belongs to the pathovars papulans actinidiae tagetis helianthii or theae


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