Evaluation of Three Antimicrobial Peptides Mixtures to Control the Phytopathogen Responsible for Fire Blight Disease

Rafael J Mendes; Sara Sario; João Pedro Luz; Natália Tassi; Cátia Teixeira; Paula Gomes; Fernando Tavares; Conceição Santos

doi:10.3390/plants10122637

Evaluation of Three Antimicrobial Peptides Mixtures to Control the Phytopathogen Responsible for Fire Blight Disease

Plants (Basel). 2021 Nov 30;10(12):2637. doi: 10.3390/plants10122637.

Authors

Rafael J Mendes^{1

2

3

4}, Sara Sario^{1

2

3}, João Pedro Luz⁵, Natália Tassi⁶, Cátia Teixeira^{1

6}, Paula Gomes^{1

6}, Fernando Tavares^{1

4}, Conceição Santos^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
² LAQV-REQUIMTE, Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
³ CITAB-Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
⁴ CIBIO-Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, InBIO, Associated Laboratory, Campus Agrário de Vairão, University of Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
⁵ QRural, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, School of Agriculture, 6000-909 Castelo Branco, Portugal.
⁶ LAQV-REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

Fire blight is a severe bacterial plant disease that affects important chain-of-value fruit trees such as pear and apple trees. This disease is caused by Erwinia amylovora, a quarantine phytopathogenic bacterium, which, although highly distributed worldwide, still lacks efficient control measures. The green revolution paradigm demands sustainable agriculture practices, for which antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have recently caught much attention. The goal of this work was to disclose the bioactivity of three peptides mixtures (BP100:RW-BP100, BP100:CA-M, and RW-BP100:CA-M), against three strains of E. amylovora representing distinct genotypes and virulence (LMG 2024, Ea 630 and Ea 680). The three AMPs' mixtures were assayed at eight different equimolar concentrations ranging from 0.25 to 6 μM (1:1). Results showed MIC and MBC values between 2.5 and 4 μM for every AMP mixture and strain. Regarding cell viability, flow cytometry and alamarBlue reduction, showed high reduction (>25%) of viable cells after 30 min of AMP exposure, depending on the peptide mixture and strain assayed. Hypersensitive response in tobacco plants showed that the most efficient AMPs mixtures and concentrations caused low to no reaction of the plant. Altogether, the AMPs mixtures studied are better treatment solutions to control fire blight disease than the same AMPs applied individually.

Keywords: AMPs; BP100; CA-M; Erwinia amylovora; RW-BP100; alamarBlue reduction; flow cytometry; green revolution; hypersensitive response; sustainable control.

Abstract

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