Abstract
One of the most important postharvest plant pathogens that affect strawberries, grapes and tomatoes is Botrytis cinerea, known as gray mold. The fungus remains in latent form until spore germination conditions are good, making infection control difficult, causing great losses in the whole production chain. This study aimed to purify and identify phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) produced by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa LV strain and to determine its antifungal activity against B. cinerea. The compounds produced were extracted with dichloromethane and passed through a chromatographic process. The purity level of PCA was determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography semi-preparative. The structure of PCA was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Antifungal activity was determined by the dry paper disk and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) methods and identified by scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy. The results showed that PCA inhibited mycelial growth, where MIC was 25 μg mL-1. Microscopic analysis revealed a reduction in exopolysaccharide (EPS) formation, showing distorted and damaged hyphae of B. cinerea. The results suggested that PCA has a high potential in the control of B. cinerea and inhibition of EPS (important virulence factor). This natural compound is a potential alternative to postharvest control of gray mold disease.
Highlights
The search for natural products with a high potential in the field of sustainable agriculture (Hostettmann and Wolfender, 1997) is important
The FC3 fraction was separated by flash chromatography (FC) using dichloromethane:ethyl ether, where the antifungal compound (60 mg) was eluted at around 95:5 eluent and monitored by agar diffusion assays
The results showed that phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) distorted and damaged B. cinerea hyphae and that fungal growth was inhibited
Summary
The search for natural products with a high potential in the field of sustainable agriculture (Hostettmann and Wolfender, 1997) is important. These compounds are broadly defined as active ingredients derived from plants, animals, or microorganisms, which reduce disease by stimulating plant defenses, direct antimicrobial activity, and/or decreasing biofilm formation (Romanazzi et al, 2012). B. cinerea infects different plant tissues of various crops, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), potato (Solanum tuberosum), grapes (Vitis vinifera), and strawberry (Fragaria spp.), causing great economic losses, at pre- or postharvest (Coley-Smith et al, 1980)
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