Seiya Tsushima

Culturable leaf-associated bacteria on tomato plants and their potential as biological control agents.

Culturable leaf-associated bacteria inhabiting a plant have been considered as promising biological control agent (BCA) candidates because they can survive on the plant. We investigated the relationship between bacterial groups of culturable leaf-associated bacteria on greenhouse- and field-grown tomato leaves and their antifungal activities against tomato diseases in vitro and in vivo. In addition, the isolated bacteria were analyzed for N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production, which have been reported to associate with bacterial colonization, and resistance to a tomato alkaloid (α-tomatine). Leaf washings and subsequent leaf macerates were used to estimate the population size of epiphytic and more internal bacteria. Bacterial population sizes on leaves at the same position increased as the leaves aged under both greenhouse and field conditions. Field-grown tomatoes had significantly larger population sizes than greenhouse-grown tomatoes. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene (rDNA) sequencing using 887 culturable leaf-associated bacteria revealed a predominance of the Bacillus and Pseudomonas culturable leaf-associated bacterial groups on greenhouse- and field-grown tomatoes, respectively. Curtobacterium and Sphingomonas were frequently recovered from both locations. From the 2138 bacterial strains tested, we selected several strains having in vitro antifungal activity against three fungal pathogens of tomato: Botrytis cinerea, Fulvia fulva, and Alternaria solani. Among bacterial strains with strong in vitro antifungal activities, Bacillus and Pantoea tended to show strong antifungal activities, whereas Curtobacterium and Sphingomonas were not effective. The results indicated the differences in antifungal activity among predominant bacterial groups. Analysis of α-tomatine resistance revealed that most bacterial strains in the dominant groups exhibited moderate or high resistance to α-tomatine in growth medium. Furthermore, some Sphingomonas and Pantoea strains showed AHL and IAA production activities. Strain 125NP12 (Pantoea ananatis) showed particular α-tomatine resistance, and AHL and IAA production had the highest protective value (91.7) against gray mold. Thus, the differences of these physiological properties among dominant bacteria may be associated with the disease suppression ability of BCAs on tomato plants.

Soil suppressiveness to clubroot disease of Chinese cabbage caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae

Abstract Two types of soil, Haplic Andosols (HA-soil) and Low-humic Andosols (LA-soil), collected from Fukushima in Japan were used to study soil suppressiveness of clubroot disease of Chinese cabbage ( Brassica oleraces ), caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae . Relationships between disease index and concentration of resting spores in both soils, i.e. dose response curves, revealed that LA-soil was more suppressive to the disease than HA-soil. The disease index in LA-soil was significantly lower than that in sterilized LA-soil (SLA-soil) even at 10 6 inoculum concentration, although there was no difference between HA-soil and sterilized HA-soil (SHA-soil) under severe disease pressure. The result suggests that biotic factors in LA-soil are responsible for disease suppression even at a high inoculum level of the pathogen. In addition, the disease index was lower in SLA-soil than in SHA-soil at all inoculum levels, suggesting that abiotic factors were also involved in the suppressiveness of LA-soil. These results indicate that the simultaneous effects of both biotic and abiotic factors are involved in the suppressiveness in LA-soil. The experiment with mixture of sterilized or non-sterilized LA-soils with infested HA-soil indicated that the suppressive factors, i.e. biotic plus abiotic factors, in LA-soil also function even in the soil mixture including HA-soil. The disease index was significantly higher in infested HA-soil diluted with SHA-soil than in infested HA-soil diluted with non-sterilized HA-soil at an inoculum level below estimated 10 3 resting spores g −1 soil. The results suggest that biotic factors play an important role in disease suppression even in conducive HA-soil infested with a low inoculum level of the pathogen.

Reduction of Resting Spore Density of Plasmodiophora brassicae and Clubroot Disease Severity by Liming

Abstract Relationships between the disease severity of clubroot caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae, the soil pH value and the concentration of exchangeable calcium associated with liming were investigated under controlled density of resting spores. Disease indices were lower in the plots treated with lime than in the control plots without lime application. The disease index was significantly lower when lime materials were mixed two weeks before sowing compared with four weeks before sowing. The reduction rate of the disease index was larger for a concentration of 2.0 g kg−1 than 1.0 g kg−1 of lime in soil. The density of the resting spores in soil at the time of sowing was significantly reduced by liming. The reduction rate was 17–31 % for calcium cyanamide, 12–29% for dolomite, and 20–39% for calcium carbonate compared with the control plot. It was suggested that the disease severity was influenced by both the soil pH and the content of exchangeable calcium in soil based on the analysis of covariance.

Phyllosphere yeasts rapidly break down biodegradable plastics

The use of biodegradable plastics can reduce the accumulation of environmentally persistent plastic wastes. The rate of degradation of biodegradable plastics depends on environmental conditions and is highly variable. Techniques for achieving more consistent degradation are needed. However, only a few microorganisms involved in the degradation process have been isolated so far from the environment. Here, we show that Pseudozyma spp. yeasts, which are common in the phyllosphere and are easily isolated from plant surfaces, displayed strong degradation activity on films made from poly-butylene succinate or poly-butylene succinate-co-adipate. Strains of P. antarctica isolated from leaves and husks of paddy rice displayed strong degradation activity on these films at 30°C. The type strain, P. antarctica JCM 10317, and Pseudozyma spp. strains from phyllosphere secreted a biodegradable plastic-degrading enzyme with a molecular mass of about 22 kDa. Reliable source of biodegradable plastic-degrading microorganisms are now in our hands.

Thirteen novel deoxynivalenol‐degrading bacteria are classified within two genera with distinct degradation mechanisms

The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON), a secondary metabolite produced by species of the plant pathogen Fusarium, causes serious problems in cereal crop production because of its toxicity towards humans and livestock. A biological approach for the degradation of DON using a DON-degrading bacterium (DDB) appears to be promising, although information about DDBs is limited. We isolated 13 aerobic DDBs from a variety of environmental samples, including field soils and wheat leaves. Of these 13 strains, nine belonged to the Gram-positive genus Nocardioides and other four to the Gram-negative genus Devosia. The degradation phenotypes of the two Gram types were clearly different; all washed cells of the 13 strains degraded 100 μg mL(-1) DON to below the detection limit (0.5 μg mL(-1)), but the conditions inducing the DON-degrading activities differed between the two Gram types. The HPLC profiles of the DON metabolites were also distinct between the two genera, although all strains produced 3-epi-deoxynivalenol. The Gram-positive strains showed DON assimilation in media containing DON as a carbon source, whereas the Gram-negatives did not. Our results suggest that aerobic DDBs are distributed within at least two phylogenetically restricted genera, suggesting independent evolution of the DON-degradation mechanisms.

Bacterial Cytochrome P450 System Catabolizing the Fusarium Toxin Deoxynivalenol

ABSTRACT Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a natural toxin of fungi that cause Fusarium head blight disease of wheat and other small-grain cereals. DON accumulates in infected grains and promotes the spread of the infection on wheat, posing serious problems to grain production. The elucidation of DON-catabolic genes and enzymes in DON-degrading microbes will provide new approaches to decrease DON contamination. Here, we report a cytochrome P450 system capable of catabolizing DON in Sphingomonas sp. strain KSM1, a DON-utilizing bacterium newly isolated from lake water. The P450 gene ddnA was cloned through an activity-based screening of a KSM1 genomic library. The genes of its redox partner candidates (flavin adenine dinucleotide [FAD]-dependent ferredoxin reductase and mitochondrial-type [2Fe-2S] ferredoxin) were not found adjacent to ddnA; the redox partner candidates were further cloned separately based on conserved motifs. The DON-catabolic activity was reconstituted in vitro in an electron transfer chain comprising the three enzymes and NADH, with a catalytic efficiency (k cat/Km ) of 6.4 mM−1 s−1. The reaction product was identified as 16-hydroxy-deoxynivalenol. A bioassay using wheat seedlings revealed that the hydroxylation dramatically reduced the toxicity of DON to wheat. The enzyme system showed similar catalytic efficiencies toward nivalenol and 3-acetyl deoxynivalenol, toxins that frequently cooccur with DON. These findings identify an enzyme system that catabolizes DON, leading to reduced phytotoxicity to wheat.

Reduction of Spore Density of Plasmodiophora brassicae in Soil by Decoy Plants

The severity of clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) on Chinese cabbage was reduced by growing plants such as oats, spinach and leafy daikon prior to Chinese cabbage in pot experiments. Resting spore densities of P. brassicae in the soil were 29–62%, depending on the pervious crop, as compared to unplanted control plot after ploughing under the previously cultivated plants. Root hairs of the preceding plants were infected with P. brassicae, but clubbed roots were not formed on these plants. The results indicate that these plants functioned as decoy plants reducing the resting-spore density in soil and thereby suppressing disease severity.

Phylogenetic relationships between the lettuce root rot pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lactucae races 1,2, and 3 based on the sequence of the intergenic spacer region of its ribosomal DNA

The genetic relationship between the vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) and between physiological races of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lactucae (FOL), the causal pathogen of lettuce root rot, was determined by analyzing the intergenic spacer (IGS) region of its ribosomal DNA. A total of 29 isolates containing a type strain were tested: 24 Japanese isolates, 2 Californian isolates, and 3 Italian isolates. Three races (races 1, 2, and 3) were found in Japan, and race 1 was also distributed in California and Italy. Races 1, 2, and 3 each belonged to a distinct VCG: VCG-1, VCG-2, and VCG-3 (VCG-3-1, VCG-3-3), respectively. Phylogenetic (neighbor-joining) analysis of the IGS sequences revealed that races 1, 2, and 3 coincided with three phylogenetic groups (PG): PG-1, PG-2, and PG-3, respectively. These results indicate that the three races are genetically quite different and have a strong correlation with VCGs and phylogenetic groupings.

Real-time PCR for differential determination of the tomato wilt fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, and its races

Five primer/probe sets to identify the tomato wilt pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL), and its three races selectively were designed based on the rDNA-intergenic spacer and avirulence genes. Real-time PCR using genomic DNA from mycelia and soil DNA with the primer/probe sets allowed the successful identification of FOL and its races.

Degradation of biodegradable plastic mulch films in soil environment by phylloplane fungi isolated from gramineous plants

To improve the biodegradation of biodegradable plastic (BP) mulch films, 1227 fungal strains were isolated from plant surface (phylloplane) and evaluated for BP-degrading ability. Among them, B47-9 a strain isolated from the leaf surface of barley showed the strongest ability to degrade poly-(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) and poly-(butylene succinate) (PBS) films. The strain grew on the surface of soil-mounted BP films, produced breaks along the direction of hyphal growth indicated that it secreted a BP-degrading enzyme, and has directly contributing to accelerating the degradation of film. Treatment with the culture filtrate decomposed 91.2 wt%, 23.7 wt%, and 14.6 wt% of PBSA, PBS, and commercially available BP polymer blended mulch film, respectively, on unsterlized soil within 6 days. The PCR-DGGE analysis of the transition of soil microbial community during film degradation revealed that the process was accompanied with drastic changes in the population of soil fungi and Acantamoeba spp., as well as the growth of inoculated strain B47-9. It has a potential for application in the development of an effective method for accelerating degradation of used plastics under actual field conditions.