Anthracnose caused by Glomerella cingulata is one of the most devastating diseases of strawberries in Japan, particularly during its nursery period in the summer. Scientists at Gifu University and Mie University (Japan) have isolated an endophytic Streptomyces sp. MBFA-172 from strawberry plants. MBFA-172 effectively suppressed strawberry anthracnose under glasshouse conditions, suggesting that it is a promising biocontrol agent for strawberry anthracnose.
"We have isolated and screened endophytic actinobacteria, to identify potential biocontrol agents able to suppress strawberry anthracnose. A total of 226 actinobacteria were successfully isolated from surface-sterilized strawberry tissues.Among all, it was discovered that isolates MBFA-172 and MBFA-227 markedly suppressed the development of anthracnose lesions. The efficacy of both isolates was then tested on two-month-old strawberry plug seedlings in a controlled environmental chamber. It was found that isolate MBFA-172 provided consistent disease suppression and it was selected as a final candidate for further evaluation in a glasshouse experiment. Results showed that the severity as well as incidence rate of strawberry anthracnose was significantly reduced by treatment with isolate MBFA-172 compared with that of untreated control", the scientists explain.
The study has proved that the disease control efficacy provided by MBFA-172 was statistically comparable to the chemical fungicide propineb. By cultural, morphological, and physiological tests combined with 16S rRNA-based molecular analysis, MBFA-172 was identified as a moderately thermophilic Streptomyces thermocarboxydus-related species. Results strongly indicated that MBFA-172 is a promising biocontrol agent for strawberry anthracnose.
Source: Malek Marian, Teppei Ohno, Hirofumi Suzuki, Hatsuyoshi Kitamura, Katsutoshi Kuroda, Masafumi Shimizu, 'A novel strain of endophytic Streptomyces for the biocontrol of strawberry anthracnose caused by Glomerella cingulata', 2020, Microbiological Research, Vol. 234, 126428.