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.

The incidence and the levels of yield loss caused by the white mold of soybean (caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) have increased in areas of higher altitude at Cerrado and Southern Brazil, causing yield losses of up to 60%. The aim of this study was to select saprobic fungi with the potential to control the white mold of soybean. First, in vitro antagonism screening was carried out to test eight saprobic fungi against S. sclerotiorum. Assessment of S. sclerotiorum mycelial growth was done at four and seven days after its placement on the culture medium. The isolate showing greatest antagonistic effect in all tests/assessments was Barros, D.C.M.; Fonseca, I.C.B; Balbi-Peña, M.I.; Pascholati, S.F.; Peitl, D.C. Biocontrol of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and white mold of soybean using saprobic fungi from semi-arid areas of Northeastern Brazil. Summa Phytopathologica, v.41, n.4, p.251-255, 2015.Myrothecium sp. An in vivo experiment was conducted in a greenhouse and growth chamber, where plants previously treated with eight saprobic fungi were artificially inoculated with S. sclerotiorum. The fungal culture medium (potato-dextrose) and the commercial resistance inducer acibenzolar-Smethyl were used as controls. In the in vivo tests, severity of the white mold was assessed at 8, 14 and 21 days after inoculation. The highest reduction percentage in the lesion length was observed for the treatment with Myrothecium sp. (70%), which has the greater potential to be used as biocontrol agent of soybean under the conditions of this experiment. ARTIGOSBiocontrol of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and white mold of soybean using saprobic fungi from semi-arid areas of Northeastern Brazil A incidência e os níveis de dano do mofo branco da soja (causado pelo fungo Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) têm aumentado nas áreas de maior altitude do cerrado e da região sul do Brasil, causando reduções de produtividade de até 60%. O trabalho objetivou selecionar fungos sapróbios com potencial de controle do mofo-branco da soja. Primeiramente, realizou-se teste de antagonismo in vitro onde testaram-se oito espécies de fungos sapróbios em confrontação com S. sclerotiorum. A avaliação do crescimento micelial de S. sclerotiorum foi realizada aos quatro e sete dias após a repicagem. O isolado de maior efeito antagônico em todos os ensaios/avaliações foi Myrothecium sp. RESUMORealizou-se ensaio em casa de vegetação e fitotron onde plantas tratadas com oito fungos sapróbios foram artificialmente inoculadas com S. sclerotiorum. Como controle foram utilizados o meio de cultura dos fungos (batata-dextrose) e o indutor comercial de resistência Acibenzolar-S-metílico. No teste in vivo, a severidade do mofo branco foi avaliada aos 8, 14 e 21 dias após a inoculação. A maior porcentagem de redução do comprimento da lesão foi observada para o tratamento com Myrothecium sp. (70%); o qual apresenta o maior potencial de utilização como biocontrolador de S. sclerotiorum nas condições do experimento. Keywords: biological control, Glycine max, white moldWhit...

A descoberta de compostos secundários de plantas medicinais com atividade antimicrobiana mostra-se promissora para o controle de fitopatógenos. A cúrcuma, Curcuma longa, apresenta em seus rizomas compostos com atividade antifúngica. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a fungitoxidade in vitro dos extratos de cúrcuma e da curcumina contra Alternaria solani. Foram utilizados extratos brutos aquosos (EB) de rizomas de cúrcuma (esterilizados por autoclavagem) nas concentrações de 0, 1, 5, 10 e 20% e curcumina nas concentrações de 0, 50, 100, 200 e 400 mg/L, os quais foram incorporados em meio de cultura batata-dextrose-ágar para avaliação de crescimento micelial e esporulação do fungo. Também foram testados extratos de cúrcuma a 10 e 15% esterilizados por filtração. O efeito dos extratos de cúrcuma autoclavados e não autoclavados e da curcumina na germinação de esporos in vitro foi também avaliado. Os extratos de cúrcuma a 10 e 15% não autoclavados inibiram em 38,2% e 23,2%, respectivamente, o crescimento micelial e 71,7% e 87%, respectivamente, a esporulação do fungo. Quando autoclavados, não apresentaram inibição do crescimento micelial nem da germinação de esporos e a inibição da esporulação foi menor, indicando a presença de compostos antimicrobianos termolábeis. O extrato não autoclavado na concentração de 5% inibiu em até 15% a germinação dos esporos. A curcumina inibiu o crescimento micelial em 29,5% na maior concentração testada, sem, contudo, afetar a esporulação e a germinação de esporos in vitro. Esses resultados indicam o potencial antifúngico da cúrcuma e curcumina contra A. solani.

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Bacterial wilt caused by Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens is among the diseases that affect Phaseolus vulgaris L. This disease has been frequently detected in bean fields and causes severe production losses in Brazil. The aim of this research was to examine the genetic diversity existing among twenty-four isolates of C. flaccumfaciens collected from their native and alternative host, and a collection of sixty strains belonging to four phytopathogenic pathovars preserved at the French Collection for Plant-associated Bacteria (CIRM-CFBP) by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) based on six housekeeping genes (atpD, dnaK, gyrB, ppK, recA and rpoB). A phylogenetic tree with the concatenated sequences of six genes showed high genetic diversity among the strains. For instance, strains belonging to C. f. pv. flaccumfaciens do not cluster together within the species. Similar results were obtained with a minimal MLSA scheme using gyrB and recA, which we propose for reliable identification at the species level of Curtobacterium isolates. No correlation was identified between phylogeny and pathogenicity in the Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens strains analyzed in this work. The specific primers CffFOR2 and CffREV4 designed by Tegli et al. (2002) to detect C. f. pv. flaccumfaciens in naturally infected bean seeds proved to be efficient for the detection of bean-pathogenic strains. Response to Reviewers:We'd like to thank the reviewers for their precise and thorough work on our manuscript. Your work greatly helped us to improve the quality of the manuscript.