Abstract
Protocatechualdehyde (PCA) is an important plant-derived natural product that has been associated with a wide variety of biological activities and has been widely used in medicine as an antioxidant, anti-aging and an anti-inflammatory agent. However, fewer reports concerning its antibacterial effects on plant-pathogenic bacteria exist. Therefore, in this study, protocatechualdehyde was evaluated for its antibacterial activity against plant pathogens along with the mechanism of its antibacterial action. PCA at 40 μg/mL was highly active against R. solanacearum and significantly inhibited its growth. The minimum bactericidal concentration and minimum inhibitory concentration values for PCA were 40 μg/mL and 20 μg/mL, respectively. Further investigation of the mechanism of action of PCA via transmission electron microscopy and biological assays indicated that the destruction of the cell structure, the shapes and the inhibition of biofilm formation were important. In addition, the application of PCA effectively reduced the incidence of bacterial wilt on tobacco under greenhouse conditions, and the control efficiency was as high as 92.01% at nine days after inoculation. Taken together, these findings suggest that PCA exhibits strong antibacterial activity against R. solanacearum and has the potential to be applied as an effective antibacterial agent for controlling bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum.
Highlights
Ralstonia solanacearum is a rod-shaped Gram-negative plant-pathogenic bacterium that causes bacterial wilt disease [1,2,3]
Our findings indicated that PCA exhibited a strong inhibitory effect on the growth of R. solanacearum in vitro (Figures 1 and 2), and could control tobacco bacterial wilt effectively in planta (Figure 9)
This study evaluated the antibacterial activity of plant-derived protocatechualdehyde (PCA), which is the major active ingredient of S. miltiorrhizae against
Summary
Ralstonia solanacearum is a rod-shaped Gram-negative plant-pathogenic bacterium that causes bacterial wilt disease [1,2,3]. This soil-borne bacterium can infect more than 200 plant species, mainly in the Solanaceae and Musaceae families [4]. This soil-borne pathogen can cause typical wilting symptoms by colonization, invasion, survival and growth in the root system and xylem tissue via wounds or natural openings [5,6]. R. solanacearum is one of the most destructive pathogens of many economically important plants [3]
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