title: Biocontrol of tomato wilt disease by Bacillus subtilis isolates from natural environments depends on conserved genes mediating biofilm formation.
abstract: Bacillus subtilis and other Bacilli have long been used as biological control agents against plant bacterial diseases but the mechanisms by which the bacteria confer protection are not well understood. Our goal in this study was to isolate strains of B. subtilis that exhibit high levels of biocontrol efficacy from natural environments and to investigate the mechanisms by which these strains confer plant protection. We screened a total of 60 isolates collected from various locations across China and obtained six strains that exhibited above 50% biocontrol efficacy on tomato plants against the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum under greenhouse conditions. These wild strains were able to form robust biofilms both in defined medium and on tomato plant roots and exhibited strong antagonistic activities against various plant pathogens in plate assays. We show that plant protection by those strains depended on widely conserved genes required for biofilm formation, including regulatory genes and genes for matrix production. We provide evidence suggesting that matrix production is critical for bacterial colonization on plant root surfaces. Finally, we have established a model system for studies of B. subtilis-tomato plant interactions in protection against a plant pathogen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University; Engineering Center of Bioresource Pesticide in Jiangsu Province; Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education; Nanjing 210095, China.|Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University; Engineering Center of Bioresource Pesticide in Jiangsu Province; Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education; Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Yunrong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University; Engineering Center of Bioresource Pesticide in Jiangsu Province; Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education; Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kolter
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Losick
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University; Engineering Center of Bioresource Pesticide in Jiangsu Province; Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education; Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000898:Antibiosis / Q000235:genetics; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018441:Biofilms; D002681:China; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000382:microbiology*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000382:microbiology; D043368:Ralstonia solanacearum / Q000502:physiology