Institut für die Sicherheit biotechnologischer Verfahren bei Pflanzen
In organic farming, there are still gaps in the control of pathogens and alternatives are needed for some existing methods, such as the use of copper. The aim of the project is thus to develop a safe and natural treatment concept using the specific control of the fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora in pome fruit cultivation as a model system. The project is aimed at identifying natural plant-associated bacterial strains that produce tailocins with specific activity against E. amylovora. Tailocins are non-self-replicating derivatives of bacteriophages (bacteria-infecting viruses) that specifically bind to the surface of their target cells, irreparably puncturing their cell wall, which results in the destruction of the crucial membrane potential.The selection and characterisation of suitable tailocin-producing bacterial antagonists against E. amylovora is carried out using the PLaBAse database and the tools CPTP-DB and CPTP-Pred (CPTP: Contractile Phage Tail like Particle-Database and Prediction Tool), from a candidate pool of strain collection isolates, isolates from certified organic plots and from the "Genbank Obst", as well as bioinformatically identified plant-associated tailocin producers.The selected candidates will then be investigated in laboratory experiments, greenhouse and field trials for their antagonistic activity against E. amylovora and characterised with regard to the specificity and efficiency of their antagonism. The project will also investigate potential effects on non-target organisms and, in particular, risks to flower-pollinating insects using honey bees and bumble bees as model insects, as well as an extended risk analysis in the context of plant health.JKI-SB will test bacterial candidates for their Tailcin production under Tailocin inducing growth conditions. The experimental setup for growth, RNA isloation from bacteria grown on or in media as well as from plant tissues and qRT-PCR testing is established in our lab. The overall objective of the project is to verify, via a proof-of-concept in the model system, the benefit of targeted genomic mining to search for natural antagonism against pests in organic farming and thus to develop a practical, specific control concept that can be used for eradication, containment of harmful bacteria and prophylactic purposes in organic farming.
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
