Projects / Programmes
Stress tolerant yeast from the genus Aureobasidium: application in the biological control against certain plant pathogens
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 7.00.00 |
Interdisciplinary research |
|
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B006 |
Biomedical sciences |
Agronomics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 4.01 |
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries |
Antagonism, biocontrol, fire blight, Erwinia amylovora, Penicillium expansum, Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum, blue mold, gray mold
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
32061 |
PhD Janja Zajc |
Plant production |
Head |
2016 - 2018 |
163 |
Organisations (1)
| no. |
Code |
Research organisation |
City |
Registration number |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
0105 |
National Institute of Biology |
Ljubljana |
5055784 |
13,296 |
Abstract
The increasing concern about the usage of antimicrobials and other chemicals in food production due to their negative environmental impacts and health risks, led to the search for the alternative means of controlling plant diseases. One of the most promising approaches is the use of microbial antagonists that prevent the growth of pathogens. A few strains of the yeast Aurebasidium pullulans are already used for pre- and postharvest biocontrol on a commercial scale, but the currently used strains are not particularly adapted to the relevant stressful conditions.
Here we wish to exploit the rich repertoire of Aureobasidium spp. strains from various stressful environments for the screening of their biocontrol potential together with their enhanced stress tolerance and to characterize phenotypes and genotypes of the best candidates for future use in the field as well as for post-harvest treatments. Also, we will develop a method for the efficient environmental monitoring of those specific Aureobasidium spp. strains.
The application of new strains of A. pullulans or A. subglaciale with improved antagonistic activity against the most problematic plant pathogens and increased tolerance to environmental stress (e.g. low temperatures, UV radiation, low nutrient availability and desiccation) would be a valuable tool for the integrated and biological/organic farming where the resources available for pest control are limited. To reach this goal is of outmost importance since a sustainable production of high-quality and healthy food is one of the most important challenges of the modern world.
Significance for science
Traditional strategies for treating preharvest and postharvest diseases of fruit and vegetable include use of chemical fungicides and antibiotics. Public awareness of environmental pollution, emerging of problematic resistant pathogenic strains and direct negative impact on human health due to the intensive agriculture practices necessitates the development of alternative strategies of plant disease control. Many publications as well as the almost two decade long usage without an incident indicate the suitability and economic feasibility of biological control agents. However, the search for more efficient strains used in the biocontrol against plant pathogens is an ongoing process. Here, we aim to find more stress tolerant strains of Aureobasidium spp. from various extreme environments with antagonistic activity towards plant pathogens. According to our knowledge so far fungi from extreme environments have never been tested for their biocontrol potential.
In addition to this, we will describe the strains with the best antagonistic potential based on their phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. The genomic data obtained in this project will help to understand the genetic basis for antagonistic mechanisms – for instance the enrichment of certain groups of genes important for outcompeting the pathogenic species. This is a so far unexplained scientific question, thus the analysis will provide original data useful for further research.
Significance for the country
The proposed project aims to discover new strains of Aureobasidium spp. with improved antagonistic activity and stress tolerance, two properties highly desirable for the biocontrol agents used for the preharvest (on field) and postharvest (during the storage) applications. This can cause the reduction of usage of chemical pharmaceuticals to control plant diseases while yielding high quality food in an economically reasonable manner.
Importantly, our study will eliminate the chance of using the opportunistic human-pathogen A. melanogenum, that was until recently ranked into the A. pullulans species complex, as a bicontrol agent.
Compared to the chemical treatments, biological control is still not a generally adopted practise. However, results of the proposed project should help to expand its use. Also, the results obtained here will be of interest to the biotechnological companies that produce biocontrol preparations based on A. pullulans or other microbes to include the new strains with improved stress-tolerance into their products.
Most important scientific results
Interim report,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report,
final report
