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Title: INHIBITORY EFFECT OF THREE ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES ON GROWTH OF SEVERAL PATHOGENS OF HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY AND STRAWBERRY

Author
item Hammerschlag, Freddi

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/4/2003
Publication Date: 11/4/2003
Citation: Hammerschlag, F.A. 2003. Inhibitory effect of three antimicrobial peptides on growth of several pathogens of highbush blueberry and strawberry. Hortscience. 38:751.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Diseases affecting blueberries and strawberries have been of major concern in recent years because of their widespread occurrence and the potential for yield loss. Although chemical controls are being used to treat some of the fungal diseases, there are no effective chemical controls available for those diseases caused by bacteria and viruses. Generating disease resistant blueberry and strawberry cultivars through direct gene transfer manipulations is appealing because of the limitations associated with high heterozygosity and polyploidy that hamper improvement through traditional breeding methods. In the present study, we have investigated the feasibility of introducing genes for the antimicrobial peptides cecropin, alpha thionin DB4 and gamma thionin RsAFP1 by testing the effects of these peptides on several strains or isolates of several pathogens of blueberry and strawberry. A thin-layer plate bioassay was conducted with several isolates or strains of the fungi Botryosphaeria dothidea, Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum, Colletotrichum fragariae, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi and the bacterium Xanthomonas fragariae. The minimum inhibitory concentration (micromoles) for cecropin ranged from 0.02 for X. fragariae strains 10 and 128 to 72.8 for C. gloeosporioides isolate Akp1. For DB4, the minimum inhibitory concentration (micromoles) ranged from 0.03 for X. fragariae strain 6 to 87.2 for B. cinerea isolate-ATCC. For RsAFP1, the minimum inhibitory concentration (micromoles) ranged from 0.13 for X. fragariae strain 6 to 61.4 for M. vaccinii-corymbosi isolate 9423-x-45. These results indicate that introducing either cecropin, DB4 or RsAFP1 into strawberry may be useful for controlling X. fragariae.