Heterologous Production of β-Caryophyllene and Evaluation of Its Activity against Plant Pathogenic Fungi
Open Access
- 14 January 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Microorganisms
- Vol. 9 (1), 168
- https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010168
Abstract
Terpenoids constitute one of the largest and most diverse groups within the class of secondary metabolites, comprising over 80,000 compounds. They not only exhibit important functions in plant physiology but also have commercial potential in the biotechnological, pharmaceutical, and agricultural sectors due to their promising properties, including various bioactivities against pathogens, inflammations, and cancer. In this work, we therefore aimed to implement the plant sesquiterpenoid pathway leading to β-caryophyllene in the heterologous host Rhodobacter capsulatus and achieved a maximum production of 139 ± 31 mg L−1 culture. As this sesquiterpene offers various beneficial anti-phytopathogenic activities, we evaluated the bioactivity of β-caryophyllene and its oxygenated derivative β-caryophyllene oxide against different phytopathogenic fungi. Here, both compounds significantly inhibited the growth of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Fusarium oxysporum by up to 40%, while growth of Alternaria brassicicola was only slightly affected, and Phoma lingam and Rhizoctonia solani were unaffected. At the same time, the compounds showed a promising low inhibitory profile for a variety of plant growth-promoting bacteria at suitable compound concentrations. Our observations thus give a first indication that β-caryophyllene and β-caryophyllene oxide are promising natural agents, which might be applicable for the management of certain plant pathogenic fungi in agricultural crop production.Keywords
Funding Information
- European Regional Development Fund (34.EFRE 0300096)
This publication has 125 references indexed in Scilit:
- Production of amorphadiene in yeast, and its conversion to dihydroartemisinic acid, precursor to the antimalarial agent artemisininProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012
- Isoprenoid Pathway Optimization for Taxol Precursor Overproduction in Escherichia coliScience, 2010
- Complete Genome Sequence of the Photosynthetic Purple Nonsulfur Bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus SB 1003Journal of Bacteriology, 2010
- Emission of Volatile Organic Compounds After Herbivory from Trifolium pratense (L.) Under Laboratory and Field ConditionsJournal of Chemical Ecology, 2009
- Restoring a maize root signal that attracts insect-killing nematodes to control a major pestProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Effect of two active compounds obtained from the essential oil of Cordia verbenacea on the acute inflammatory responses elicited by LPS in the rat pawBritish Journal of Pharmacology, 2007
- Effect of Farnesol on Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm Formation and Antimicrobial SusceptibilityAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 2006
- Recruitment of entomopathogenic nematodes by insect-damaged maize rootsNature, 2005
- A Broad Host Range Mobilization System for In Vivo Genetic Engineering: Transposon Mutagenesis in Gram Negative BacteriaBio/Technology, 1983
- Studies on transformation of Escherichia coli with plasmidsJournal of Molecular Biology, 1983