Isolation of epiphytic yeasts from Eugenia dysenterica DC. fruits and evaluation of their antimicrobial activity against phytopathogenic fungi

Camilla Martins Malta,Divina Anne Batista Oliveira,Eskálath Morganna Silva Ferreira,Filipe Miguel Pereira Da Silva,Juliana Fonseca Moreira Da Silva,Raphael Sanzio Pimenta,Thamar Holanda Da Silva

doi:10.46357/bcnaturais.v14i2.176

Camilla Martins Malta, Divina Anne Batista Oliveira + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.46357/bcnaturais.v14i2.176

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Abstract

Plants commonly interact with microorganisms that may influence their physiology and performance. Epiphytic yeasts are microorganisms that can be found in the phylosphere, in significantly larger numbers in fruits than in other plant tissues due to their higher nutritional content. The present study aimed to contribute to knowledge of epiphytic yeasts associated with Eugenia dysenterica DC. fruits and to evaluate their antimicrobial activity against phytopathogens. E. dysenterica fruits were collected, washed in saline solution, and sonicated. Each fruit solution was plated in three Petri dishes with NYDA medium. Yeast identification was performed through morphological and physiological criteria, and richness evaluation was performed using the Jackknife 1 estimator. All isolated yeasts were tested for diffusible substances against three phytopathogenic fungi. Only four of 42 isolates were inhibited sporulation of Aspergillus parasiticus, but none was able to inhibit or diminish mycelium growth of any tested phytopathogen. The present study contributes to the characterization of the E. dysenterica microbiome, presenting the first report of in vitro A. parasiticus sporulation inhibition by epiphytic yeasts and suggesting their promising use in biological control of this phytopathogen.

Highlights

Plant-associated microorganisms have been shown to affect significantly their hosts’ physiology and environmental adaptation, suggesting that evolution and ecology of plants and animals with their associated microorganisms can be understood as a holobiont organism context (Agler et al, 2016)
Plants are commonly engaged in neutral or mutualistic interactions with epiphytes that may have a positive contribution for their hosts (PartidaMartínez & Heil, 2011), such as influencing plants growth (Ludwig-Müller, 2015; Panke-Buisse et al, 2015; Agler et al, 2016), water economy of host plants (Stanton et al, 2014), producing bioactive substances used by hosts as protective antifungal agents (Newman & Cragg, 2015), and conferring host plant resistance to insects and herbivores (Hansen & Moran, 2014)
The present study aims to contribute to knowledge of the epiphytic yeast community associated with the Cerrado native tree Eugenia dysenterica (Mart.) DC. and to evaluate the possibility that these microorganisms synthetize metabolites with antimicrobial activity

Summary

Introduction

Plant-associated microorganisms have been shown to affect significantly their hosts’ physiology and environmental adaptation, suggesting that evolution and ecology of plants and animals with their associated microorganisms can be understood as a holobiont organism context (Agler et al, 2016). Specialized nutritional communities found on the surface of living plants, on leaves, are known as epiphytes (Hongsanan et al, 2016). Fungal epiphytes are a polyphyletic group that colonize all known plant species and have a worldwide distribution (Schoch et al, 2009; Wu et al, 2011; Hyde et al, 2013; Hongsanan et al, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c; Li et al, 2016). There is a hypothesis that the interaction fungi-host plant must be balanced between the virulence of the fungi and the plant defences If such a balance shifts, through plant defence deficiency or fungi virulence increase, a symptomatic manifestation may arise (PartidaMartínez & Heil, 2011)

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