The aim of this review was to survey all fungal pathologists with an association with the journal Molecular Plant Pathology and ask them to nominate which fungal pathogens they would place in a Top 10 based on scientific/economic importance. The survey generated 495 votes from the international community, and resulted in the generation of a Top 10 fungal plant pathogen list for Molecular Plant Pathology. The Top 10 list includes, in rank order, (1) Magnaporthe oryzae; (2) Botrytis cinerea; (3) Puccinia spp.
(4) Fusarium graminearum; (5) Fusarium oxysporum; (6) Blumeria graminis; (7) Mycosphaerella graminicola; (8) Colletotrichum spp.
(9) Ustilago maydis; (10) Melampsora lini, with honourable mentions for fungi just missing out on the Top 10, including Phakopsora pachyrhizi and Rhizoctonia solani. This article presents a short resume of each fungus in the Top 10 list and its importance, with the intent of initiating discussion and debate amongst the plant mycology community, as well as laying down a bench-mark. It will be interesting to see in future years how perceptions change and what fungi will comprise any future Top 10.

BACKGROUND: Biocontrol is a promising strategy in the control of rice blast disease. In the present study, we isolated and characterized a novel antagonist to the pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae from rice endophytic actinomycetes. RESULTS: Out of 482 endophytic actinomycetes isolated from rice blast infected and healthy rice, Streptomyces endus OsiSh-2 exhibited remarkable in vitro antagonistic activity. Scanning electron microscopy observations of M. oryzae treated by OsiSh-2 revealed significant morphological alterations in hyphae. In 2-year field tests, the spraying of OsiSh-2 spore solution (10(7) spores mL(-1) ) is capable of reducing rice blast disease severity by 59.64%. In addition, a fermentation broth of OsiSh-2 and its cell-free filtrates could inhibit the growth of M. oryzae, suggesting the presence of active enzymes and secondary metabolites. OsiSh-2 tested positive for polyketide synthase-I and nonribosomal peptide synthetase genes and can produce cellulase, protease, gelatinase, siderophore, indole-3-acetic acid and 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase. A preliminary separation indicated that the methanol extract of OsiSh-2 could suppress the growth of pathogens. The major active component was identified as nigericin. CONCLUSION: Endophytic S. endus OsiSh-2 has potential as a biocontrol agent against rice blast in agriculture. (c) 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

【目的】从水稻中分离、筛选并鉴定出对稻瘟病真菌具有拮抗性能的内生放线菌,对高抗菌株进行稻瘟病生防效果评定,初步探讨其作用机制。【方法】采用4 种分离培养基对水稻内生放线菌进行分离,用平板对峙法筛选出对稻瘟病菌拮抗性能最好的菌株,结合其菌落形态、生理生化及16S rRNA 基因序列分析进行鉴定;用环境扫描电镜(SEM)观察拮抗菌对稻瘟病菌菌丝形态影响,用菌丝生长速率法对拮抗菌发酵滤液进行抗菌活性评价;大田条件下,喷洒拮抗菌孢子液于水稻,检测其稻瘟病控制效果;同时,对拮抗菌进行产酶和次级代谢产物分析,检测其聚酮合酶基因(PKSⅡ型)和非核糖体多肽合成酶基因(NRPS)。【结果】从1 800 个水稻样品中分离出117 株内生放线菌,从中筛选出拮抗性能最好的菌株OsiRt-1,鉴定为米修链霉菌Streptomyces misionensis。该菌株使稻瘟病菌菌丝出现畸形,其无菌滤液对病菌菌丝生长的抑制率为28.06%;大田条件下,OsiRt-1 对水稻苗瘟、穗瘟均有较好防效,其中对苗瘟防效为7.76%,穗瘟防效高达25.65%,损失率降低了17.46%。与之对应,OsiRt-1 处理过的水稻地上部分,OsiRt-1 所占内生放线菌的比例明显高于未处理水稻。该菌株具有可能降解真菌细胞壁的纤维素酶、蛋白酶活性,同时可产生植物生长促进剂铁载体、IAA、ACC 脱氨酶。菌株OsiRt-1 呈现PKSⅡ型和NRPS 阳性。【结论】菌株OsiRt-1 是一株具生防潜力的内生放线菌,在农业上具有实际研发价值。

An isolate, JK-1, was obtained as a contaminant from a fungal culture, and identified as Streptomyces globisporus. In dual cultures on solid media, this strain suppressed mycelial growth of numerous plant pathogenic fungi, especially that of Magnaporthe oryzae, Bipolaris maydis and Cryphonectria parasitica. Culture filtrates of JK-1 inhibited mycelial growth of M. oryzae, and histological investigations showed that conidial germination and appressorial formation of M. oryzae were suppressed on detached rice leaves. When applied at 15 mu l per 5-cm-long detached leaf, washed cells of JK-1 at 10(8) CFU/ml could suppress disease incidence of rice blast caused by M. oryzae co-inoculated at 5 x 10(5) spores/ml, but disease incidence was not reduced when washed cells of JK-1 were used at 10(6) or 10(7) CFU/ml. Applying the culture filtrate on rice seedlings in the greenhouse at 2 h post inoculation (HPI) with M. oryzae showed 88.3% disease reduction of rice blast, while culture filtrate application before pathogen inoculation showed even higher rates of disease reduction. Suppression of the infection process of M. oryzae on detached rice leaves was observed by light and scanning electron microscopy, showing inhibited conidial germination and reduced appressorial formation on rice leaves sprayed with culture filtrate before 3 HPI. Application of JK-1 as cells or culture filtrates to plant tissues did not cause any noticeable negative effects. These results indicate that the antifungal substance(s) in the culture filtrate of S. globisporus JK-1 can exhibit an inhibitory effect on M. oryzae and a suppressive effect on rice blast disease. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Rice blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae severely impacts global rice yield stability. The rice endophyte Streptomyces sporocinereus OsiSh-2, with strong antagonistic activity towards M. oryzae, has been reported in our previous study. To decipher the model of the antagonistic action of OsiSh-2 towards M. oryzae, we compared the iron-capturing abilities of these two strains. The cultivation of OsiSh-2 and a M. oryzae strain under iron-rich and iron-starved conditions showed that M. oryzae depended more on iron supplementation for growth and development than did OsiSh-2. Genomic analysis of the S. sporocinereus and M. oryzae species strains revealed that they might possess different iron acquisition strategies. The actinobacterium OsiSh-2 is likely to favor siderophore utilization compared to the fungus M. oryzae. In addition, protein annotations found that OsiSh-2 contains the highest number of the siderophore biosynthetic gene clusters among the 13 endophytic actinomycete strains and 13 antifungal actinomycete strains that we compared, indicating the prominent siderophore production potential of OsiSh-2. Additionally, we verified that OsiSh-2 could excrete considerably more siderophores than Guy11 under iron-restricted conditions and displayed greater Fe(3+)-reducing activity during iron-supplemental conditions. Measurements of the iron mobilization between the antagonistic OsiSh-2 and Guy11 showed that the iron concentration is higher around OsiSh-2 than around Guy11. In addition, adding iron near OsiSh-2 could decrease the antagonism of OsiSh-2 towards Guy11. Our study revealed that the antagonistic capacity displayed by OsiSh-2 towards M. oryzae was related to the competition for iron. The highly efficient iron acquisition system of OsiSh-2 may offer valuable insight for the biocontrol of rice blast.

Streptomyces corchorusii strain UCR3-16, obtained from rice rhizospheric soils showed antifungal activities against 6 major rice fungal pathogens by diffusible and volatile compounds production. The strain was found positive for production of fungal cell wall degrading enzymes such as chitinase, beta-1,3-glucanase, beta-1,4-glucanase, lipase and protease. The strain was also positive for plant growth promoting traits. It produced up to 30.5mug/ml of IAA and solubilized a significant amount of inorganic phosphate (up to 102mug/ml). It also produced 69% siderophore units. The strain also produced ammonia and gave positive result for ACC deaminase activity. Highest vigor index of inoculated seedlings was observed when rice seeds were treated with cell suspension of UCR3-16 corresponding to 4.5x10(8)cfu/ml. Bioinoculant-treated seeds also showed similar results under pathogen challenged conditions. In pot trial experiments, UCR3-16-treated rice plants showed significantly increased growth and grain yield production. Powder formulation of the strain was developed using talcum and corn starch as carriers and the shelf-lives were monitored. Talcum formulation showed higher cell-count than corn starch even after 6 months of storage, and optimum condition for storage of the powder formulation were found to be at 4 degrees C. Pot trial experiments using talcum powder formulation also showed significant positive effects on growth of rice plants. Field trial using talcum powder formulation also exhibited significant enhancement in shoot length and weight of shoot and root, and total grain yield and weight of grains in rice plants. Talcum formulation also significantly reduced the sheath blight disease in rice leaves.

The Streptomyces spp. used in this work were previously isolated as diazotrophic endophytes from sorghum stems. Here, we characterized the Streptomyces spp. for their colonization ability, plant growth promotion and protection against fungal disease in three cereals. In vitro analysis by dual culture study showed inhibitory effect on the rice pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae B157 along with inhibition of the ubiquitous phytopathogen Rhizoctonia solani by the Streptomyces spp. used in this study. The active compounds responsible for phytopathogen inhibition were extracted with ethyl acetate and tested positive against the fungal pathogens. GC-MS based identification of the active compounds responsible for fungal pathogen inhibition showed them to be 2-(chloromethyl)-2-cyclopropyloxirane, 2, 4- ditert-butylphenol and 1-ethylthio-3-methyl-1, 3-butadiene in extracts of culture supernatants from the three different strains respectively. EGFP tagged Streptomyces strains showed profuse colonization in roots as well as aerial parts of cereal plants. Direct inhibitory action against M. oryzae B157 and R. solani correlated with the observation that upon fungal pathogen challenge, the bacterized rice, sorghum and wheat plants showed significantly good plant growth, particularly in aerial parts as compared to unbacterized controls. In addition, benefit was seen in inoculated healthy plants in terms of increase in wet weight of roots and shoots as compared to the uninoculated controls. The mechanism of biocontrol also involved induction of plant defense response as evidenced by the upregulation of PR10a, NPR1, PAL and LOX2 in Streptomyces colonized plants.

The induced resistance against plant pathogens via biocontrol agents is considered as an eco-friendly and promising strategy. In this study, the induced resistance against Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) in rice seedling by a new potential biocontrol agent Streptomyces JD211 (JD211) was evaluated. The effects of JD211 on defense-related enzymes activities and defense genes expression were investigated. The biocontrol efficacy of different JD211 concentrations was different, and the treatment of 10 g kg(-1) JD211 achieved the highest biocontrol efficacy. Activities of catalase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and beta-1,3-glucanase significantly increased in the presence of JD211. The gene expression level of both PAL and pathogenesis related protein 1 increased when rice seedlings were inoculated with JD211 alone or co-inoculated with M. oryzae, and the expression level of chitinase gene was enhanced by JD211 in the later stage. All results suggested that JD211 could increase the rice resistance by stimulating a series of defense responses, which was the result of induced systemic resistance by JD211. This work will provide a new biocontrol agent against Magnaporthe oryzae in rice seedling.

Antifungalmycin 702, a novel polyene macrolide antibiotic produced by Streptomyces padanus JAU4234, strongly inhibited mycelial growth of the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea, with EC50 of 37 mug/ml and EC90 of 136 mug/ml. Significant reduction in the number of conidia was observed at above 20 mug/ml. Conidia germination and appressorium formation were also suppressed and were not viable with >40 mug/ml. When treated with antifungalmycin 702, hyphae morphology became irregular. Based on microscopic examination, antifungalmycin 702 may exert its antifungal activity by changing the structure of cell membranes and the cytoskeleton and interacting with the organelles. Antifungalmycin 702 thus has potential as a new fungicide in the treatment of rice blast disease.

Two main antifungal metabolites resistomycin and tetracenomycin D were isolated and purified from a termite-associated Streptomyces canus BYB02 by column chromatography. The structures of isolated compounds were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. Resistomycin possessed strong activities against mycelial growth of Valsa mali (IC(50) = 1.1 mug/mL) and Magnaporthe grisea (IC(50) = 3.8 mug/mL), which were comparable to those of referenced cycloheximide, with IC(50) values of 2.3 and 0.3 mug/mL, respectively. A further spore germination test showed that resistomycin exhibited potent reduction in spore germination for M. grisea , with an IC(50) value of 5.55 mug/mL. Finally, the in vivo antifungal activity experiment showed that resistomycin possessed significant preventive efficacy against rice blast, which was more potent than that of referenced carbendazim, with control efficacies of 66.8 and 58.7%, respectively. The present results suggest that resistomycin has potential to be used as a fungicide.

Understanding the mechanisms of inhibitors of translation termination may inform development of new antibacterials and therapeutics for premature termination diseases. We report the crystal structure of the potent termination inhibitor blasticidin S bound to the ribosomal 70S*release factor 1 (RF1) termination complex. Blasticidin S shifts the catalytic domain 3 of RF1 and restructures the peptidyl transferase center. Universally conserved uridine 2585 in the peptidyl transferase center occludes the catalytic backbone of the GGQ motif of RF1, explaining the structural mechanism of inhibition. Rearrangement of domain 3 relative to the codon-recognition domain 2 provides insight into the dynamics of RF1 implicated in termination accuracy.

进行了春雷霉素防治水稻稻瘟病试验,试验结果表明,2%春雷霉素WP对水稻稻穗瘟有较好的防效,防效达91.0%-94.2%,试验剂量下对水稻安全无害,可以大面积推广应用,生产上推荐用量为112.45-181.25g/hm2.

瑞拉菌素Zuelaemycin是委内瑞拉链霉菌秦岭变种Streptomyces venezuelae var.qinlingensis.n.Var产生的一种农用抗生素，属于氨基糖苷类，可有效防治稻瘟病Pyricularia grisea。为验证其对稻瘟病防效，于2003年和2004年分别在陕西、湖北、宁夏、四川四省进行了田间药效试验，试验结果显示，瑞拉菌素在有效成分用量为16.5 g/hm2和18 g/hm2时，对水稻叶瘟病的防效分别可达83.2%和87.2%，对水稻穗颈瘟的防效分别可达77.81%和82.17%，与有效成分用量225.0~337.5 g/hm2的三环唑WP的防效相当或优于后者，1.2%瑞拉菌素EW防治水稻稻瘟病的增产效果也高于其它对照药剂。综合各田间试验结果，显示1.2%瑞拉菌素EW对水稻稻瘟病具有良好的防效，优于传统药剂，在大田生产上具有良好的推广应用前景。

The plant cell wall is always the physical barrier in which phytopathogenic fungi must overcome by producing an array of cell wall degrading enzymes (CWDEs) that allow them to invade host tissues through the degradation of cell wall components of plants. Magnaporthe oryzae is a causal agent of blast disease, one of the most devastating disease in rice resulting significant crop losses worldwide. The penetration of plant cuticle and cell walls induced by infection structures of M. oryzae has been known to be acquired by the association of turgor pressure and CWDEs for successful infection of M. oryzae. In this review, we focus on recent discoveries of M. oryzae CWDEs, gene regulation and their biological roles as fungal virulence factors and elicitors of host defense response leading to plant resistance against fungal pathogens.

The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea infects its host by forming a specialized infection structure, the appressorium, on the plant leaf. The enormous turgor pressure generated within the appressorium drives the emerging penetration peg forcefully through the plant cuticle. Hitherto, the involvement of cutinase(s) in this process has remained unproven. We identified a specific M. grisea cutinase, CUT2, whose expression is dramatically upregulated during appressorium maturation and penetration. The cut2 mutant has reduced extracellular cutin-degrading and Ser esterase activity, when grown on cutin as the sole carbon source, compared with the wild-type strain. The cut2 mutant strain is severely less pathogenic than the wild type or complemented cut2/CUT2 strain on rice (Oryza sativa) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). It displays reduced conidiation and anomalous germling morphology, forming multiple elongated germ tubes and aberrant appressoria on inductive surfaces. We show that Cut2 mediates the formation of the penetration peg but does not play a role in spore or appressorium adhesion, or in appressorial turgor generation. Morphological and pathogenicity defects in the cut2 mutant are fully restored with exogenous application of synthetic cutin monomers, cAMP, 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, and diacylglycerol (DAG). We propose that Cut2 is an upstream activator of cAMP/protein kinase A and DAG/protein kinase C signaling pathways that direct appressorium formation and infectious growth in M. grisea. Cut2 is therefore required for surface sensing leading to correct germling differentiation, penetration, and full virulence in this model fungus.

Twelve actinobacterial strains were isolated from tomato rhizospheric soil from Manipur, a state in North East Indian Himalayan Region and screened for keratinolytic and plant growth promoting traits. Nine promising isolates were identified as Streptomyces species using partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Among the seven isolates showing chicken feather degradation activity, three keratinolytic strains RCM-SSR-2, -6, and -12 were found to be the most efficient feather degrading strains achieving 90% feather weight loss within 48 h of incubation. They also showed maximum keratinase and soluble peptide production. Strain RCM-SSR-2, -5, -6, -8, and -11 showed positive results for all plant growth promoting traits tested. Maximum indole-3-acetic acid production was exhibited by RCM-SSR-6. Strain RCM-SSR-1, -2, -5, -6, -9, and -11 showed antagonistic activity against three important plant pathogens. Feather hydrolysate of RCM-SSR-6 was also evaluated for in vitro seed germination test using garden pea seeds. Higher concentration of feather protein hydrolysate (3 mg ml(-1) ) inhibited shoot and root length of the germinating embryo. However, lower concentration (0.01 mg ml(-1) ) of feather protein hydrolysate promoted seed germination. Among the 12 strains, four isolates namely RCM-SSR-1, -2, -5, and -6 were found to be promising as multi-traits plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for development of organic fertilizer, phytostimulator, and biocontrol agents.

As the main component of the fungal cell wall, chitin has been regarded as an optimal molecular target for the biocontrol of plant-pathogenic fungi. In this study, the chitin hydrolase CcCti1, which belongs to the glycoside hydrolase family 18 (GH 18) and exhibits potential antifungal activity, was identified from Corallococcus sp. EGB. CcCti1 lacks a fibronectin type-III (FN3) domain that is present in similar enzymes from most genera of myxobacteria, indicating that CcCti1 may have acquired chitinase activity due to the FN3 domain deletion during myxobacterial evolution. CcCti1 was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) with a specific activity of up to 10.5U/mumol with colloidal chitin as the substrate. Product analysis showed that CcCti1 could hydrolyze chitin into N-acetylated chitohexaose (GlcNAc)6 as the major product, in addition to chitooligosaccharides. The analysis of biochemical properties indicated that the CBD and FN3 domains in CcCti1 determine the substrate affinity and pH stability. Otherwise, CcCti1 exhibited efficient biocontrol activity against the plant pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae in a dose-dependent manner, inhibiting the conidia germination and appressoria formation at a concentration of 0.08mg/mL. Overall, the chitohexaose-producing chitinase CcCti1 with hydrolytic features may find potential application in chitin conversion and biocontrol of fungal plant diseases.

In leaves pretreated with an indole derivative [indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) tryptamine, or tryptophan], blast lesion formation was suppressed compared to those treated with distilled water (DW) as a control. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity and PAL expression were significantly enhanced in the IAA- or tryptophan-pretreated leaves, but not in tryptamine-pretreated leaves. This induction of resistance was inhibited by pretreatment with a PAL inhibitor, alpha-aminooxyacetic acid, in IAA- and in tryptophan-treated leaves, but not in tryptamine-treated leaves. This study strongly shows that the indole derivatives IAA tryptamine and tryptophan can enhance a disease resistance mechanism that is supported by different metabolic pathways.