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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiotechnology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1493430

Identification of Pantoea ananatis strain BCA19 as a potential biological control agent against Erwinia amylovora

Provisionally accepted
Jueun Lee Jueun Lee 1Won-Kwon Jung Won-Kwon Jung 2Hee-Young Jung Hee-Young Jung 3Hyong Woo Choi Hyong Woo Choi 1*
  • 1 Andong National University, Andong, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Gyeongsangbuk-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services, Daegu 41404, Republic of Korea
  • 3 Department of Plant Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In this study, we aimed to screen potential antagonistic microorganisms against Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight. From 127 unknown bacterial isolates tested, 2 bacterial strains (BCA3 and BCA19) were identified to show distinct antagonistic activity against E. amylovora in agar plate assay. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16s rRNA sequence identified both BCA3 and BCA19 as Pantoea ananatis. Among these BCA19 showed 13.9% stronger antagonistic activity than BCA3. Thus we further characterized antagonistic activity of BCA19. Culture filtrates (CF) of BCA19 significantly inhibited the swimming and swarming motility of E. amylovora. Ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts of CF of BCA19 exhibited antibacterial activity in disc diffusion assay. Furthermore, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of ethyl acetate and n-butanol extracts of CF of BCA19 identified antibacterial compounds, including indole and hexahydropyrrolo [1,2-a] pyrazine-1,4-dione.Importantly, indole inhibited growth E. amylovora with IC50 value of 0.109 ± 0.02 mg/mL (~930.4 μM). Whole genome sequence analysis of BCA 19 revealed gene clusters related with siderphore, andrimid, arylpolyene and carotenoid-type terpene production. This study indicates that BCA19 can be used as a potential biological control agent against Erwinia amylovora.

    Keywords: Fire blight, Erwinia amylovora, Biological control agent, Pantoea ananatis, indole

    Received: 09 Sep 2024; Accepted: 31 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lee, Jung, Jung and Choi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hyong Woo Choi, Andong National University, Andong, Republic of Korea

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