The genus Hanseniaspora is characterized by some of the smallest genomes among budding yeasts. These fungi are primarily found on plant surfaces and in fermented products and represent promising biocontrol agents against notorious fungal plant pathogens. In this work, we identify a Hanseniaspora meyeri isolate that shows strong antagonism against the plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum as a pantothenate auxotroph. Furthermore, strong biocontrol activity in vitro required both pantothenate and biotin in the growth medium. We show that the H. meyeri isolate APC 12.1 can obtain the vitamin from plants and other fungi. The underlying reason for the auxotrophy is the lack of key pantothenate biosynthesis genes, but at least six genes encoding putative pantothenate transporters are present in the genome. By constructing and using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae reporter strain, we identified one Hanseniaspora transporter, out of the six candidate proteins, that conferred pantothenate uptake activity to S. cerevisiae. Pantothenate auxotrophy is rare and has only been described in a few bacteria and in S. cerevisiae strains that were isolated from sake. Such auxotrophic strains may seem an unexpected and unlikely choice as potential biocontrol agents, but they may be particularly competitive in their ecological niche and their specific growth requirements are an inherent biocontainment strategy preventing uncontrolled growth in the environment. Auxotrophic strains such as the H. meyeri isolate APC 12.1 may thus represent a new strategy for developing biocontrol agents that will be easier to register than prototrophic strains, which are normally used for such applications.
Cyberlindnera sargentensis strain SHA 17.2, isolated from a Swiss soil sample, exhibited strong antagonistic activity against several plant pathogenic fungi in vitro and was highly competitive against other yeasts in soil . As a basis for identifying the mechanisms underlying its strong antagonistic activity, we have sequenced the genome of C. sargentensis (SHA 17.2) by long- and short read sequencing, de novo assembled them into seven contigs/chromosomes and a mitogenome (total genome size 11.4 Mbp), and annotated 5455 genes. This high-quality genome is the reference for transcriptome and proteome analyses aiming at elucidating the mode of action of C. sargentensis against fungal plant pathogens. It will thus serve as a resource for identifying potential biocontrol genes and performing comparative genomics analyses of yeast genomes.
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