Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Candida ernobii strain Pg2-5 against postharvest disease of Penicillium expansum and to evaluate the possible mechanisms involved. Disc diffusion assay showed that Pg2-5 exhibited an inhibitory effect against P. expansum growth. An antifungal compound was isolated from the cell-free supernatant culture of Pg2-5 and identified as farnesol. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFC) of farnesol for P. expansum were 15 and 100 μM, respectively. The addition of farnesol promoted reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst, and increased ultrastructure disintegration of mitochondria. These results indicate that antifungal compound production is one of the modes of action of C. ernobii Pg2-5 against postharvest pathogen of P. expansum. ROS may be an inducer, and mitochondria are potential target of the cytotoxicity process of farnesol. Key words: Postharvest, Candida ernobii, biocontrol, farnesol.
Highlights
Postharvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables are very high, ranging from 10 to 40% depending on species, harvest methods, length of storage and technologies used in the packing houses (Xu et al, 2013)
C. ernobii strain Pg2-5 isolated from the surface of citrus has been proved to availably inhibit postharvest stem-end rot disease of citrus that caused by D. natalensis (Chen et al, 2007)
The identity of the compounds produced by strain Pg25 was confirmed to be farnesol
Summary
Postharvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables are very high, ranging from 10 to 40% depending on species, harvest methods, length of storage and technologies used in the packing houses (Xu et al, 2013). Penicillium expansum, one of the most frequently isolated fungal pathogens of plants, can attacks fruits such as apple, pear and citrus, causing blue mold rot (Morales et al, 2008). The main use of synthetic fungicides to control postharvest diseases of fruits but there are several concerns, including side effects of synthetic fungicide and development of fungicideresistant strains of pathogens (Ren et al, 2012). It is always necessary to explore new agents or alternative approaches of controlling fungal pathogens. Biocontrol using antagonists has been proved as one of promising alternative way to synthetic fungicides (Perello et al, 2008; Menel et al, 2013). Some of them have been investigated as potential antifungal biocontrol agents and several have been launched on the market (Nguefack et al, 2009).
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