Evaluation of secondary metabolites produced by endophytic fungi of Passiflora incarnata with antibacterial action against species of the genus Xanthomonas

• Grant number: 18/00199-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2018
• End date: March 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Daiane Cristina Sass
• Grantee: Lucas Fazardo de Lima
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bacteria of the genus Xanthomonas affect agricultural crops of great economic importance in Brazil, and the control of these diseases through the use of chemical products, among other practices, causes negative impacts on health and the environment, a fact that makes the search for sustainable alternatives of fighting these diseases increasingly important. A possible alternative to the chemicals that have aroused great interest is the application of secondary metabolites, since they are natural products of high specificity, with potential microbicidal activity and that have a short half-life in the environment. It is suspected that new microbial species and new secondary metabolites can be identified by investigating endophytic microorganisms that live inside the plant tissue. In this context, this project aims to evaluate the potential activity of secondary metabolites obtained from endophytic fungi isolated from the Passiflora incarnata plant against pathogenic Xanthomonas of tomato, sweet pepper, citrus fruits and cassava. This project may result in obtaining metabolites with high bactericidal potential to be used in agriculture, as well as increase the knowledge of the diversity of metabolites produced by endophytic fungi isolated from the Passiflora incarnata plant. (AU)