Weeds are notorious
plant species exhibiting
a harmful impact on crops. Biological weed control is an efficient
and environmentally friendly technique, usually constitutes naturally
derived compounds, including bioherbicidal metabolites produced by Streptomyces sp. The isolation and structural identification
of phytotoxic compounds from Streptomyces have recently been proposed as an effective way to the discovery
of novel bioherbicides. In the screening of bioherbicidal agents,
isolated Streptomyces strain KRA17-580
demonstrated significant phytotoxic activity against Digitaria ciliaris. Phylogenetic analysis of the
16S rRNA sequence indicated that isolated KRA17-580 is similar to Streptomyces olivochromogenes. The bacterial culture
conditions were optimized for temperature, agitation, and initial
pH. Streptomyces strain KRA17-580 showed
intense phytotoxic activity and high cell mass at an initial pH of
5.5–7.0, more than 150 rpm, and 25–30 °C. The herbicidal
compounds isolated from the culture filtrate of strain KRA17-580 were
purified by solvent partition, C18, Sephadex LH20 column
chromatography, and high-performance liquid chromatography. By 1D-NMR,
2D-NMR, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis, the
580-H1 and 580-H2 compounds were identified as a cinnoline-4-carboxamide
(M
W, 173.0490; C9H7N3O2) and cinnoline-4-carboxylic acid (M
W, 174.0503; C9H6N2O2), respectively. Only these two herbicidal compounds
showed strong phytotoxic activity against D. ciliaris in foliar applications. However, compound 580-H2 was more phytotoxic
than 580-H1 and the toxicity was dose-dependent. The herbicidal metabolite
KRA17-580 produced by Streptomyces sp.
is a new bioherbicidal candidate that may provide a new lead molecule
for more efficient phytotoxic compounds.