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Volume 164, Issue 1

Fusion proteins towards fungi and bacteria in plant protection Open Access

Abstract

In agriculture, although fungi are considered the foremost problem, infections by bacteria also cause significant economical losses. The presence of different diseases in crops often leads to a misuse of the proper therapeutic, or the combination of different diseases forces the use of more than one pesticide. This work concerns the development of a ‘super-Blad’: a chimeric protein consisting of Blad polypeptide, the active ingredient of a biological fungicide already on the market, and two selected peptides, SP10-5 and Sub5, proven to possess biological potential as antibacterial agents. The resulting chimeric protein obtained from the fusion of Blad with SP10-5 not only maintained strong antibacterial activity, especially against spp. and , but was also able to retain the ability to inhibit the growth of both yeast and filamentous fungi. However, the antibacterial activity of Sub5 was considerably diminished when fused with Blad, which seems to indicate that not all fusion proteins behave equally. These newly designed drugs can be considered promising compounds for use in plant protection. A deeper and focused development of an appropriate formulation may result in a potent biopesticide that can replace, two conventional chemistries with less impact on the environment.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): antimicrobial peptides , biopesticides , biotechnology , Blad-containing oligomer and pest management
© 2018 belongs to CEV, SA
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2018-01-01
2024-04-18
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Fusion proteins towards fungi and bacteria in plant protection
Microbiology 164, 11 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000592
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000592
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000592
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