Mining the effects of a Bacillus sp. olive tree endophyte-derived lipopeptide extract on the metabolism of Colletotrichum acutatum applying GC/MS and ¹H NMR metabolomics

The issues that the plant protection sector is facing dictate the need for the discovery of improved sources of bioactivity as plant protection products. Within this context, endophytes have become the focus of the research based on their capacity to synthesize compounds with unique bioactivity.

Here, the effect of a previously isolated lipopeptide extract (LP) of a Bacillus sp. olive tree endophyte on the metabolism of Colletotrichum acutatum [1] was investigated (Figure 1). In the analyses, GC/EI/MS and NMR platforms were employed performing metabolomics.

A large portion of the fungal metabolome was recorded, including various carboxylic, amino, and fatty acids, carbohydrates and phenolic compounds. Based on multivariate analysis, metabolites-biomarkers of the toxicity of the applied LP were discovered; α,α-trehalose, L-proline, and phenylacetate were amongst the metabolites with the highest leverage on the observed toxicity, that also, play central role in fungal metabolism. The latter, is associated to the pathogenicity of the fungus, indicating an antipathogenic activity of the LP.

Pipeline of the metabolomics study.

• References

• 1 Kolainis S.. et al. 2020. PloS one 15 e0233916