Biocontrol of tomato bacterial wilt by the new strainBacillus velezensisFJAT-46737 and its lipopeptides

Background There is an urgent need to discover biocontrol agents to control bacterial wilt. This study reports on a new lipopeptide-producing biocontrol strain FJAT-46737 and explores its lipopeptidic compounds, and this study investigates the antagonistic effects of these compounds. Results Based on a whole genome sequence analysis, the new strain FJAT-46737 was identified asBacillus velezensis, and seven gene clusters responsible for the synthesis of bioactive secondary metabolites in FJAT-46737 were predicted. The antimicrobial results demonstrated that FJAT-46737 exhibited broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities in vitro against three bacteria and three fungi. Pot experiments showed that the control efficiencies for tomato bacterial wilt of the whole cultures, the 2-fold diluted supernatants and the crude lipopeptide of FJAT-46737 were 66.2%, 82.0%, and 96.2%, respectively. The above results suggested that one of the antagonistic mechanisms of FJAT-46737 was the secretion of lipopeptides consisting of iturins, fengycins and surfactins. The crude lipopeptides had significant antagonistic activities against several pathogens (includingRalstonia solanacearum,Escherichia coliandFusarium oxysporum) and fengycins were the major antibacterial components of the lipopeptides againstR. solanacearumin vitro. Furthermore, the rich organic nitrogen sources (especially yeast extracts) in the media promoted the production of fengycin and surfactin by FJAT-46737. The secretion of these two lipopeptides was related to temperature fluctuations, with the fengycin content decreasing by 96.6% and the surfactins content increasing by 59.9% from 20 degrees C to 40 degrees C. The optimal temperature for lipopeptide production by FJAT-46737 varied between 20 degrees C and 25 degrees C. Conclusions TheB. velezensisstrain FJAT-46737 and its secreted lipopeptides could be used as new sources of potential biocontrol agents against several plant pathogens, and especially the bacterial wilt pathogenR. solanacearum.