Background The use of chemical fungicides against fungal pathogens adversely affects soil and plant health thereby resulting in overall environmental hazards. Therefore, biological source for obtaining antifungal agents is considered as an environment-friendly alternative for controlling fungal pathogens. Results In this study, seven endophytic bacteria were isolated from sugarcane leaves and screened for its antifungal activity against 10 fungal isolates belonging to the genera Alternaria, Cochliobolus, Curvularia, Fusarium, Neodeightonia, Phomopsis and Saccharicola isolated from diseased leaves of sugarcane. Among the seven bacterial isolates, SCB-1 showed potent antagonistic activity against the tested fungi. Based on the phenotypic data, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the isolate SCB-1 was identified as Bacillus subtilis . The bacterial isolate was screened negative for chitinase production; however, chloroform and methanol extracts of the bacterial culture caused significant inhibition in the growth of the fungal isolates on semisolid media. Volatile component assay showed highest inhibitory activity against Saccharicola bicolor (SC1.4). A PCR based study detected the presence of the genes involved in biosynthesis of surfactin, bacillaene, difficidin, macrolactins and fengycin. Mass spectrometric analysis of the bacterial extract detected the presence of antifungal lipopeptide surfactin, but other metabolites were not detected. The biocontrol activity of the bacterial isolate was established when bacterial pretreated mung bean seeds were able to resist Fusarium infection, however, the untreated seeds failed to germinate. Conclusion The antifungal potential of isolate Bacillus subtilis SCB-1 was established against taxonomically diverse fungal pathogens including the genera Saccharicola , Cochliobolus, Alternaria and Fusarium . The potent antifungal compound surfactin as well as volatiles produced by the bacterial isolate could be responsible for its bio-control activity against fungal infections. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-019-1440-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
The crisis of energy producing molecules (fuels) is expected to increase in future, which is currently produced from crude mineral oil. Biodiesel is most reliable, non-toxic, biocompatible liquid fuel that can replace the existing unsustainable sources of energy. Among all the known sources, microalgae display high potential for the production of biodiesel owing to their numerous benefits like higher biomass productivities than plants, no agricultural land requirement, cultivation in waste water and accumulation of 20-50% triacylglycerols. Microalgae biomass and lipid content plays an important role in commercial production of biodiesel. The present work was carried out to develop an axenic culture of a potential microalga Chlorella sp. for high biomass and enhanced lipid accumulation. The important growth parameters like pH, light colour, light intensity and photoperiod were studied for better production of Chlorella biomass. The effect of salinity on cell growth was also studied and compared with normal Fogg's medium grown cells. The main biomolecules like carbohydrate, protein, lipid and chlorophyll content were also estimated with the help of standard biochemical methods in salt supplemented and without salt Fogg's medium. The cellular lipid content was increased by growing the cells under different salt concentrations. The micro algal strain showed highest growth of 0.822 g L −1 and 1.021g L −1 in Fogg's medium and under 0.2 M NaCl supplemented medium respectively. However, the maximum lipid production of 0.1842 g L −1 was estimated by growing the cells in Fogg's medium including 0.5 M NaCl with slight compromise in cell growth (0.858 g L −1 ). The lipid content of Chlorella sp. was found to be 26.84% as compared to 14% obtained under normal culture condition. Thus, growing Chlorella sp. under salt supplemented medium and optimizing light requirement will produce high biomass and oil for biodiesel production.
Association of bacteria with fungi is a major area of research in infection biology, however, very few strains of bacteria have been reported that can invade and reside within fungal hyphae. Here, we report the characterization of an endofungal bacterium Serratia marcescens D1 from Mucor irregularis SS7 hyphae. Upon re-inoculation, colonization of the endobacterium S. marcescens D1 in the hyphae of Mucor irregularis SS7 was demonstrated using stereo microscopy. However, S. marcescens D1 failed to invade into the hyphae of the tested Ascomycetes (except Fusarium oxysporum) and Basidiomycetes. Remarkably, Serratia marcescens D1 could invade and spread over the culture of F. oxysporum that resulted in mycelial death. Prodigiosin, the red pigment produced by the Serratia marcescens D1, helps the bacterium to invade fungal hyphae as revealed by the increasing permeability in fungal cell membrane. On the other hand, genes encoding the type VI secretion system (T6SS) assembly protein TssJ and an outer membrane associated murein lipoprotein also showed significant up-regulation during the interaction process, suggesting the involvement of T6SS in the invasion process.
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