Pseudomonas - Use As Biocontrol Agents

Use As Biocontrol Agents

Since the mid 1980s, certain members of the Pseudomonas genus have been applied to cereal seeds or applied directly to soils as a way of preventing the growth or establishment of crop pathogens. This practice is generically referred to as biocontrol. The biocontrol properties of P. fluorescens and P. protegens strains (CHA0 or Pf-5 for example) are currently best understood, although it is not clear exactly how the plant growth-promoting properties of P. fluorescens are achieved. Theories include: that the bacteria might induce systemic resistance in the host plant, so it can better resist attack by a true pathogen; the bacteria might out compete other (pathogenic) soil microbes, e.g. by siderophores giving a competitive advantage at scavenging for iron; the bacteria might produce compounds antagonistic to other soil microbes, such as phenazine-type antibiotics or hydrogen cyanide. There is experimental evidence to support all of these theories.

Other notable Pseudomonas species with biocontrol properties include P. chlororaphis, which produces a phenazine-type antibiotic active agent against certain fungal plant pathogens, and the closely related species P. aurantiaca which produces di-2,4-diacetylfluoroglucylmethane, a compound antibiotically active against Gram-positive organisms.