Aim: To isolate and identify black pepper (Piper nigrum L) associated endophytic bacteria antagonistic to Phytophthora capsici causing foot rot disease. Methods and Results: Endophytic bacteria (74) were isolated, characterized and evaluated against P. capsici. Six genera belong to Pseudomonas spp (20 strains), Serratia (1 strain), Bacillus spp. (22 strains), Arthrobacter spp. (15 strains), Micrococcus spp. (7 strains), Curtobacterium sp. (1 strain) and eight unidentified strains were isolated from internal tissues of root and stem. Three isolates, IISRBP 35, IISRBP 25 and IISRBP 17 were found effective for Phytophthora suppression in multilevel screening assays which recorded over 70% disease suppression in green house trials. A species closest match (99% similarity) of IISRBP 35 was established as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pseudomonas EF568931), IISRBP 25 as P. putida (Pseudomonas EF568932), and IISRBP 17 as Bacillus megaterium (B. megaterium EU071712) based on 16S rDNA sequencing. Conclusion: Black pepper associated P. aeruginosa, P. putida and B. megaterium were identified as effective antagonistic endophytes for biological control of Phytophthora foot rot in black pepper. Significance and Impact of the Study: This work provides the first evidence for endophytic bacterial diversity in black pepper stem and roots, with biocontrol potential against P. capsici infection.

Black pepper associated bacterium BP25 was isolated from root endosphere of apparently healthy cultivar Panniyur-5 that protected black pepper against Phytophthora capsici and Radopholus similis - the major production constraints. The bacterium was characterized and mechanisms of its antagonistic action against major pathogens are elucidated. The polyphasic phenotypic analysis revealed its identity as Pseudomonas putida. Multi locus sequence typing revealed that the bacterium shared gene sequences with several other isolates representing diverse habitats. Tissue localization assays exploiting green fluorescence protein expression clearly indicated that PpBP25 endophytically colonized not only its host plant - black pepper, but also other distantly related plants such as ginger and arabidopsis. PpBP25 colonies could be enumerated from internal tissues of plants four weeks post inoculation indicated its stable establishment and persistence in the plant system. The bacterium inhibited broad range of pathogens such as Phytophthora capsici, Pythium myriotylum, Giberella moniliformis, Rhizoctonia solani, Athelia rolfsii, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and plant parasitic nematode, Radopholus similis by its volatile substances. GC/MS based chemical profiling revealed presence of Heneicosane; Tetratetracontane; Pyrrolo [1,2-a] pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro-3-(2-methylpropyl); Tetracosyl heptafluorobutyrate; 1-3-Eicosene, (E)-; 1-Heneicosanol; Octadecyl trifluoroacetate and 1-Pentadecene in PpBP25 metabolite. Dynamic head space GC/MS analysis of airborne volatiles indicated the presence of aromatic compounds such as 1-Undecene;Disulfide dimethyl; Pyrazine, methyl-Pyrazine, 2,5-dimethyl-; Isoamyl alcohol; Pyrazine, methyl-; Dimethyl trisulfide, etc. The work paved way for profiling of broad spectrum antimicrobial VOCs in endophytic PpBP25 for crop protection.

Endophytic Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BP35 was originally isolated from black pepper grown in the rain forest in Kerala, India. Strain PaBP35 was shown to provide significant protection to black pepper against infections by Phytophthora capsici and Radopholus similis. For registration and implementation in disease management programmes, several traits of PaBP35 were investigated including its endophytic behaviour, biocontrol activity, phylogeny and toxicity to mammals. The results showed that PaBP35 efficiently colonized black pepper shoots and displayed a typical spatiotemporal pattern in its endophytic movement with concomitant suppression of Phytophthora rot. Confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed high populations of PaBP35::gfp2 inside tomato plantlets, supporting its endophytic behaviour in other plant species. Polyphasic approaches to genotype PaBP35, including BOX-PCR, recN sequence analysis, multilocus sequence typing and comparative genome hybridization analysis, revealed its uniqueness among P. aeruginosa strains representing clinical habitats. However, like other P. aeruginosa strains, PaBP35 exhibited resistance to antibiotics, grew at 25-41°C and produced rhamnolipids and phenazines. PaBP35 displayed strong type II secretion effectors-mediated cytotoxicity on mammalian A549 cells. Coupled with pathogenicity in a murine airway infection model, we conclude that this plant endophytic strain is as virulent as clinical P. aeruginosa strains. Safety issues related to the selection of plant endophytic bacteria for crop protection are discussed.

No abstract

Bacterial wilt in ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most important production constraints in tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperature regions of the world. Lack of resistant genotype adds constraints to the crop management. However, mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.), which is resistant to R. solanacearum, is a potential donor, if the exact mechanism of resistance is understood. To identify genes involved in resistance to R. solanacearum, we have sequenced the transcriptome from wilt-sensitive ginger and wilt-resistant mango ginger using Illumina sequencing technology. A total of 26387032 and 22268804 paired-end reads were obtained after quality filtering for C. amada and Z. officinale, respectively. A total of 36359 and 32312 assembled transcript sequences were obtained from both the species. The functions of the unigenes cover a diverse set of molecular functions and biological processes, among which we identified a large number of genes associated with resistance to stresses and response to biotic stimuli. Large scale expression profiling showed that many of the disease resistance related genes were expressed more in C. amada. Comparative analysis also identified genes belonging to different pathways of plant defense against biotic stresses that are differentially expressed in either ginger or mango ginger. The identification of many defense related genes differentially expressed provides many insights to the resistance mechanism to R. solanacearum and for studying potential pathways involved in responses to pathogen. Also, several candidate genes that may underline the difference in resistance to R. solanacearum between ginger and mango ginger were identified. Finally, we have developed a web resource, ginger transcriptome database, which provides public access to the data. Our study is among the first to demonstrate the use of Illumina short read sequencing for de novo transcriptome assembly and comparison in non-model species of Zingiberaceae.