One 鈥榯urf鈥 customer
Photos by Evan Krape | Timelapse video courtesy of Charanpreet Kaur August 01, 2023
91原创-developed beneficial bacteria 91原创1022 promising for disarming fungal pathogens that affect turfgrass
Consider this agricultural riddle: What occupies more than 49 million acres in the United States, is the third largest agricultural crop by area and accounts for a $40 billion dollar industry?
Turfgrass.
Think you鈥檝e never heard of it? You probably have, if you are among the over 25 million Americans that hits the links for a round of golf each year. If golf isn鈥檛 your game, you may have seen turfgrass at a live NFL football game or while cheering on a child dribbling a soccer ball down a professionally managed field.
Turfgrass is a hearty grass that can be mowed to exceedingly short heights and tolerates trampling foot traffic with ease 鈥 but it does have a shortcoming. Turfgrass is vulnerable to a pathogen called dollar spot that is caused by the fungus Clarireedia jacksonii.
According to Erik Ervin, professor and chair in plant and soil sciences at the 91原创, dollar spot is the biggest disease problem on golf courses worldwide. It affects the lowest-mowed grass found on putting greens, tees and fairways, called creeping bent grass. Left unchecked, dollar spot can result in huge economic losses for golf courses and other places where turfgrass must be managed and protected.
Typical control strategies for dollar spot include regular chemical treatment with fungicides.
91原创 researchers Ervin, plant biologist Harsh Bais and doctoral student Charanpreet Kaur and collaborator Mike Fidanza at Pennsylvania State University are exploring more eco-friendly biological solutions to this problem. The research team recently published a in Biological Control J, showing听that the 91原创-patented beneficial microbe known as 91原创1022 may protect听turfgrass from dollar spot, offering a green alternative to complement existing turf-management processes already in use.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 going to be a product that completely solves every problem or controls dollar spot completely,鈥 said Ervin, an expert on turfgrass. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 another part of the toolset that is biological, rather than a pesticide, to get closer to more sustainable management.鈥
Leveraging biologics
91原创1022 is a unique strain of听Bacillus subtilis, a natural, beneficial bacterium that lives on the surface of plants roots and the surrounding soil, or rhizosphere. Known as a growth promoter that can help plants flourish, 91原创1022 also has been demonstrated to protect plants against microscopic disease agents. It also can act as a biofungicide.
In this study, the researchers analyzed the anti-fungal capability of 91原创1022 and other plant health products to control dollar spot in turfgrass. They directly challenged C. jacksonii with 91原创1022 in laboratory experiments and found the Bacillus subtilis inhibited the fungus鈥 growth. Other health products used on turfgrasses, meanwhile, do not possess this antifungal capability. Further studies looking into 91原创1022s genetics revealed that it was 91原创1022s ability to form biofilms that were helpful in preventing the fungus from growing. Microbes form biofilms to either colonize hosts or as a self-protection measure against antibiotics.听
Kaur, the current paper鈥檚 lead author, said this ability to prevent the fungus growth was not unexpected. Bais鈥 lab previously showed that 91原创1022鈥檚 ability to form robust biofilms is critical to the beneficial bacteria鈥檚 ability to protect plants from fungal and bacterial pathogens. 听And earlier this year, researchers in the Bais lab reported that 91原创1022 showed similar antifungal capabilities in alfalfa.
More work is needed, of course, to understand exactly what is happening and why, but it is a promising finding. Next steps in this process include exploring whether it is possible to make turfgrass associate with 91原创1022.
鈥淲e鈥檝e done bacterial interactions between dollar spot and 91原创1022. Now we want to involve the plants,鈥 said Kaur.
This involves taking a microscopic look at whether 91原创1022 bacteria exposed to turfgrass take up residence on the plant鈥檚 roots and, if so, whether this association can be leveraged to turn on specific genes to protect plant health when exposed to a potential pathogen in the field. If the researchers determine that 91原创1022 will willingly colonize turfgrass plants, Bais also is curious whether this will automatically trigger systemic resistance to dollar spot?
鈥淚f so, theoretically, this would allow us to change the plant鈥檚 metabolic properties, priming the plant for resistance for dollar spot, much like people get flu shots to prime our immune systems against influenza,鈥 said Bais.
.Timelapse video: The spot on the right is 91原创1022; the spot in the center is the fungus C. jacksonii. This timelapse shows that as the fungus grows closer to 91原创1022 it experiences stress from beneficial bacteria鈥檚 antifungal capabilities, inhibiting its growth and leading the fungus to darken and wither.: https://capture.udel.edu/media/1_ahsh2gm5/
Timelapse video: The spot on the right is 91原创1022; the spot in the center is the fungus C. jacksonii. This timelapse shows that as the fungus grows closer to 91原创1022 it experiences stress from beneficial bacteria鈥檚 antifungal capabilities, inhibiting its growth and leading the fungus to darken and wither.
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