Abstract
Over the last seven decades, applications using members of the Bacillus subtilis group have emerged in both food processes and crop protection industries. Their ability to form survival endospores and the plethora of antimicrobial compounds they produce has generated an increased industrial interest as food preservatives, therapeutic agents and biopesticides. In the growing context of food biopreservation and biological crop protection, this review suggests a comprehensive way to visualize the antimicrobial spectrum described within the B. subtilis group, including volatile compounds. This classification distinguishes the bioactive metabolites based on their biosynthetic pathways and chemical nature: i.e., ribosomal peptides (RPs), volatile compounds, polyketides (PKs), non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs), and hybrids between PKs and NRPs. For each clade, the chemical structure, biosynthesis and antimicrobial activity are described and exemplified. This review aims at constituting a convenient and updated classification of antimicrobial metabolites from the B. subtilis group, whose complex phylogeny is prone to further development.
Highlights
IntroductionThe genus Bacillus comprises 377 species (last update in January 2019) of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria (Gordon et al, 1973)
The genus Bacillus comprises 377 species1 of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria (Gordon et al, 1973)
Degradation of intermediates from the shikimate pathway or aromatic amino acids can lead to the production of benzenoid volatiles (Dickschat et al, 2005). This wide variety of volatile fatty acids and their derivatives make them the most important group of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) produce by microbes and represent up to 87% of known antimicrobial VOCs produced by B. subtilis bacteria (Supplementary Table S3)
Summary
The genus Bacillus comprises 377 species (last update in January 2019) of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria (Gordon et al, 1973). Their ability to form endospores, their diversity in physiological properties, as well as their capacity to produce numerous antimicrobial compounds (AMCs) favor their ubiquitous distribution in soil, aquatic environments, food and gut microbiota of arthropods and mammals (Nicholson, 2002). Subtilis 168 is considered as model organism (Barbe et al, 2009). They are usually mesophilic and neutrophilic, some can tolerate high pH. The evolution of their molecular, chemotaxonomic and physiological characterizations led to regular reevaluations and (re-)description of numerous novel species and subspecies (see current taxonomy of the group in Figure 1) (Fan et al, 2017)
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