Plasma membrane damage contributes to antifungal activity of citronellal against Penicillium digitatum

Abstract

The antifungal activity of citronellal, a typical terpenoid of plant essential oils, against Penicllium digitatum and the possible action mode involved were investigated. Results showed that the mycelial growth and spores' germination of P. digitatum were inhibited by citronellal in a dose-dependent manner. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) were determined to be 1.60 lL/mL and 3.20 lL/mL, respectively. It was found that the plasma membrane of citronellal-treated P. digitatum spores was damaged, as confirmed by the propidium iodide stain results, as well as a higher extracellular conductivity and release of cell constituents in citronellal-treated samples than those of control samples. Moreover, in vivo test results demonstrated that wax ? citronellal (WC; 10 9 MFC) treatment effectively reduced the incidence of green mold after 5 days of storage at 25 ± 2°C. These findings suggested that the plasma damage mechanism contributed to the antifungal activity of citronellal against P. digitatum. In addition, citronellal was suggested to be a potential alternative to fungicidal agents in controlling green mold of citrus fruit.

UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS-Based Metabolomics Approach Reveals the Antifungal Potential of Pinocembroside against Citrus Green Mold Phytopathogen

“…Concurrently, the image of Figure 2 intuitively showed that the higher concentration of PiCB had higher MGI of P. digitatum. The MIC and MFC values of PiCB against P. digitatum were observed best at 200, and 400 mg/L, respectively, and interestingly much lower than that reported for citronellal, harmol and limonene [20,23,24]. This indicated that PiCB displayed an excellent antifungal efficacy against P. digitatum.…”

Inhibitory Effect of 7-Demethoxytylophorine on Penicillium italicum and its Possible Mechanism

“…Various plant-derived antifungal active compounds such as cinnamaldehyde, citral, citronellal, geraniol, octanal, pinocembrin, and different essential oils have extensively been studied for their potential to target fungal pathogens in agricultural products [7,25,27,28,29,30,31,32,33]. The natural phytochemicals that bear strong antifungal properties can help reduce the consumption of synthetic fungicides and successfully eradicate outbreaks of fungal diseases, maintain fruit quality, safeguard the environment, and promote higher biodegradability and reduced toxicity [3,6,34].…”

Essential Oils and Antifungal Activity

“…In their natural environments, most of bacteria and fungi change from a planktonic to a sessile state forming the so-called biofilms [ 71 ]. Biofilms are sessile microbial and fungal communities that are strongly attached to surfaces and to each other; in such phase, they are protected by a polymeric extracellular matrix (ECM), constituted primarily of polysaccharides [ 72 , 73 ].…”