Objective
Microbial pesticides have received much attention ln the past decade as alternatives for chemical pesticides. Many chemical pesticides have been or will soon be banned since they are a threat to our health. However, the problem for agricultural, horticultural and seed companies is that the development of BPs (biopesticides) is slow in comparison with the actions of banning chemical pesticides. Delays in finding alternatives for chemical pesticides will cause problems for these companies. Recent work has led to a greater understanding of the traits which play a role ln the appllcatlon of beneficial microbes in plant disease control. Several microbial pesticides have now been marketed. Therefore this is the right time for developing safer and more effective BPs.
The current state of the art ls that many important BP traits have been identified, lncluding (1) the production of AFFs (antifungal factors), (il) a delivery system (a process called rhizosphere colonization, which includes chemotaxls of biocontrol bacteria to root exudate components) to bring the AFF-producing bacteria to the right sites on the root system, and (iil) Induced Systemlc Resistance. Moreover, the recent discovery of exudate-lnducible and rhizosphere inducible promoters opens the posslblllty to uncouple BP traits from their often complex regulation and to express them only in the rhizosphere, and even only in the rhizosphere of selected plants. The understanding of the molecular basis of the mentioned traits and induction mechanisms is still too poor for a rational prediction of the fate and efficacy of these BPS under agronomic conditions. In the present project we will broaden the genetic and functional basis of BP traits, construct novel r-DNA BP strains, test these under agronomlcally relevant conditions, and use these results as the basis for improved fate prediction and improved BP performance. We will use wheat and sugar beet as model mono- and dicot-field crops, respectively, as well as tomato, a crop which is grown in the field in Southern Europe and in greenhouses/hydroponics ln Northern Europe.
Our general objective is to obtain a better understanding of the genetic and functional mechanisms involved in AFF production, colonisation and exudate utilisation, and how these traits influence the host range of BPS. Potentially improved r-DNA BPS will be constructed by transferring a number of novel key genes and promoters of these traits into existing BC strains. These r-DNA strains will be tested by the industrial partners for their agronomic effect e.g. survival on seeds, colonization and BP activity under relevant conditions. The lndustrlal partners will compare the efficacy, predictability and host range of the new BPS with currently available alternatives. Newly developed r-DNA BPS will be further tested under practical conditions with the aim of obtaining vital information necessary for the task of developing and marketing new biocontrol products. Together with the molecular work, the industrial contribution will provide a rational basis for understanding the mechanism of action and host range and for predicting the fate and effect of the improved r-DNA BP agents when released into the rhizosphere to control fungal pathogens.
For details on BP strains and BP traits, see 1. Objectives.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology mycology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds cereals
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Coordinator
2333 AL LEIDEN
Netherlands
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