A nontoxic polypeptide oligomer with a fungicide potency under agricultural conditions which is equal or greater than that of their chemical counterparts

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 7;10(4):e0122095. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122095. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

There are literally hundreds of polypeptides described in the literature which exhibit fungicide activity. Tens of them have had attempted protection by patent applications but none, as far as we are aware, have found application under real agricultural conditions. The reasons behind may be multiple where the sensitivity to the Sun UV radiation can come in first place. Here we describe a multifunctional glyco-oligomer with 210 kDa which is mainly composed by a 20 kDa polypeptide termed Blad that has been previously shown to be a stable intermediary product of β-conglutin catabolism. This oligomer accumulates exclusively in the cotyledons of Lupinus species, between days 4 and 12 after the onset of germination. Blad-oligomer reveals a plethora of biochemical properties, like lectin and catalytic activities, which are not unusual per si, but are remarkable when found to coexist in the same protein molecule. With this vast range of chemical characteristics, antifungal activity arises almost as a natural consequence. The biological significance and potential technological applications of Blad-oligomer as a plant fungicide to agriculture, its uniqueness stems from being of polypeptidic in nature, and with efficacies which are either equal or greater than the top fungicides currently in the market are addressed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agriculture*
  • Animals
  • Bees / drug effects
  • Chitin / metabolism
  • Fungi / drug effects
  • Fungi / physiology
  • Fungicides, Industrial / chemistry*
  • Fungicides, Industrial / metabolism
  • Fungicides, Industrial / toxicity*
  • Lupinus / drug effects
  • Lupinus / microbiology
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Peptides / chemistry*
  • Peptides / metabolism
  • Peptides / toxicity*
  • Protein Multimerization*

Substances

  • Fungicides, Industrial
  • Peptides
  • Chitin

Grants and funding

This work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: Grant number: SFRH//BPD/5712/2001 to SM; Grant number: SFRH/BD/87561/2012 to AMP; Project number: PRAXIS/3/3.2/HORT/2140/95, Agência de Inovação: Project Resoídio. The funder CONVERDE SA provided support in the form of salaries for authors SM and AC, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the author contributions section.