title: Monitoring Lysobacter capsici AZ78 using strain specific qPCR reveals the importance of the formulation for its survival in vineyards.
abstract: Survival in the phyllosphere is a critical feature for biofungicides based on non-spore forming bacteria. Moreover, knowledge of their persistence on plants is important to design effective formulations and application techniques. With this scope, the aim of this work was to develop a specific method to monitor the fate in the environment of Lysobacter capsici AZ78, a biocontrol agent of Plasmopara viticola, and to evaluate the contribution of formulation in its persistence on grapevine leaves. A strain-specific primer pair derived from REP-PCR fingerprinting was used in quantitative PCR experiments to track the evolution of L. capsici AZ78 population in vineyards. The population reached between 5 and 6 log10 cells gram of leaf(-1) after application and decreased by more than 100 times in one week. Multiple regression analysis showed that unfavourable temperature was the main environmental factor correlating with the decrease of L. capsici AZ78 persistence on grapevine leaves. Importantly, the use of formulation additives protected L. capsici AZ78 against environmental factors and improved its persistence on the leaves by more than 10 times compared to nude cells. Formulation and the knowledge about the persistence of L. capsici AZ78 in vineyards will be useful to develop commercial biofungicides for foliar application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Via Edmund Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Guillem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Segarra
authors.affiliation: Department of Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Via Edmund Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, Trento, Italy gerardo.puopolo@fmach.it.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Puopolo
authors.affiliation: Department of Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Via Edmund Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Porcel-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Department of Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Via Edmund Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Giovannini
authors.affiliation: Department of Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Via Edmund Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pertot
mesh_terms: D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D053528:Lysobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology*; D050296:Microbial Viability; D010572:Pest Control, Biological / Q000379:methods; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000382:microbiology*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013696:Temperature; D027843:Vitis / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Lysobacter capsici AZ78; REP-PCR; formulation; grapevine; leaf colonization; quantitative PCR