TY - JOUR
T1 - The Microbiome of the Lebanese Wild Apple, Malus trilobata, is a Rich Source of Potential Biocontrol Agents for Fungal Post-harvest Pathogens of Apples
AU - Khoury, Elie
AU - Abou Fayad, Antoine
AU - Karam Sarkis, Dolla
AU - Fahs, Hala
AU - Gunsalus, Kristin C.
AU - Kallassy Awad, Mireille
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Nancy Fayad and Fathima Shaffra Mohammed Refai for their assistance during this project and Pr. Magda Abou Dagher Kharrat, Dr. Rana el Zein and Eng. Tony Shaheen for providing Malus trilobata location information. This work was supported by funding from the Lebanon Research Council of University Saint-Joseph Beirut, under the grant numbers FS98, [FS101 to Ph.D student E.K], and by a grant to the New York University Abu Dhabi Center for Genomics and Systems Biology from the New York University Abu Dhabi Research Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - The widespread use of harmful fungicides in the agricultural sector has led to a demand for safer alternatives to protect against crop pathogens. The domestic apple is the second most highly consumed fruit in the world and encounters several pre- and post-harvest fungal and bacterial phytopathogens. The goal of this study was to explore the uncharacterized microbiome of a wild apple, Malus trilobata, as a potential source of novel biocontrol agents for two post-harvest fungi that affect commercial apples: Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium expansum. We sampled microflora associated with the leaves, bulk soil, and roots of Malus trilobata in two regions of Lebanon: Ehden reserve in the north and Dhour EL Choueir near Beirut. The two regions have different soil types Dhour EL Choueir and samples from the two regions showed very different microbial compositions, with greater microbial diversity among those from Ehden reserve. Molecular characterization revealed a wide variety of genera displaying activity against the two fungal pathogens, including several with previously unknown antifungal activity: Bosea, Microlunatus, Microbacterium, Mycetecola, Rhizobium and Paraphoma. In total, 92 strains inhibited Penicillium expansum (39%) and 87 strains inhibited Botrytis cinerea (38%) out of 237 screened. Further chemical and genetic characterization of one or more selected strains could pave the way for future development of new biocontrol agents for post-harvest applications.
AB - The widespread use of harmful fungicides in the agricultural sector has led to a demand for safer alternatives to protect against crop pathogens. The domestic apple is the second most highly consumed fruit in the world and encounters several pre- and post-harvest fungal and bacterial phytopathogens. The goal of this study was to explore the uncharacterized microbiome of a wild apple, Malus trilobata, as a potential source of novel biocontrol agents for two post-harvest fungi that affect commercial apples: Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium expansum. We sampled microflora associated with the leaves, bulk soil, and roots of Malus trilobata in two regions of Lebanon: Ehden reserve in the north and Dhour EL Choueir near Beirut. The two regions have different soil types Dhour EL Choueir and samples from the two regions showed very different microbial compositions, with greater microbial diversity among those from Ehden reserve. Molecular characterization revealed a wide variety of genera displaying activity against the two fungal pathogens, including several with previously unknown antifungal activity: Bosea, Microlunatus, Microbacterium, Mycetecola, Rhizobium and Paraphoma. In total, 92 strains inhibited Penicillium expansum (39%) and 87 strains inhibited Botrytis cinerea (38%) out of 237 screened. Further chemical and genetic characterization of one or more selected strains could pave the way for future development of new biocontrol agents for post-harvest applications.
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U2 - 10.1007/s00284-021-02397-w
DO - 10.1007/s00284-021-02397-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 33646376
AN - SCOPUS:85101881003
SN - 0343-8651
VL - 78
SP - 1388
EP - 1398
JO - Current Microbiology
JF - Current Microbiology
IS - 4
ER -