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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Renewable Product Technology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #364341
Research Project: New Biobased Products and Improved Biochemical Processes for the Biorefining Industry

Location: Renewable Product Technology Research

Title: Inhibition of Erwinia amylovora by Bacillus nakamurai

Author
item Leathers, Timothy
item SAUNDERS, LAUREN - Former ARS Employee
item Bowman, Michael
item Price, Neil
item Bischoff, Kenneth
item Rich, Joseph
item Skory, Christopher - Chris
item Nunnally, Melinda

Submitted to: Current Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2019
Publication Date: 1/14/2020
Citation: Leathers, T.D., Saunders, L.P., Bowman, M.J., Price, N.P.J., Bischoff, K.M., Rich, J.O., Skory, C.D., Nunnally, M.S. 2020. Inhibition of Erwinia amylovora by Bacillus nakamurai. Current Microbiology. 77:875–881. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-019-01845-y.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-019-01845-y

Interpretive Summary: Fire blight is an economically devastating disease of apple and pear trees that is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora. Treatment options for fire blight have typically relied on repeated application of antibiotics, but continued use has resulted in increased antibiotic resistance in these bacteria. Therefore, new and improved methods are needed to control this disease. In this study, we screened a number of novel natural products against Erwinia strains and showed that a newly identified species of bacteria produced an effective inhibitor of Erwinia. These results are an important step to towards developing improved methods to control fire blight disease.

Technical Abstract: A variety of potential inhibitors were tested for the first time for suppression of Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight in apples and pears. Strain variability was evident in susceptibility to inhibitors among five independently isolated virulent strains of E. amylovora. However, most strains were susceptible to culture supernatants from strains of Bacillus spp., and particularly to the recently described species B. nakamurai. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC’s) were 5-20% (vol/vol) of culture supernatant from B. nakamurai against all five strains of E. amylovora. Although Bacillus species previously have been reported to produce lipopeptide inhibitors of E. amylovora, matrix assisted laser desorption-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and column chromatography indicated that the inhibitor from B. nakamurai was not a lipopeptide but rather a novel inhibitor.