Bioactivity of secondary metabolites produced by actinobacteria from the bulk soil of Paullinia cupana Mart. against soybean phytopathogens

• Grant number: 22/01529-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2022
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Simone Possedente de Lira
• Grantee: Naydja Moralles Maimone
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/17721-9 - The role of Chemistry in holobiont adaptation, AP.TEM

Abstract

Soybean represents the largest agricultural crop in Brazil, both in terms of cultivated area and production. Among the challenges for the maintenance and expansion of this crop we have the diseases caused by phytopathogenic fungi, that potentially can lead to high losses in crops. In recent years, the search for new fungicidal compounds that represent alternatives to conventional agrochemicals has been stimulated. In this context, actinobacteria are considered promising sources of bioactive compounds with possible applications in agriculture, including secondary metabolites with fungicidal action. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the bioactivity and metabolic profile of 24 strains of actinobacteria isolated from Paullinia cupana bulk soil, focusing on the search for active molecules against soybean phytopathogens, which will be isolated using chromatographic techniques and will have their structures elucidated from spectroscopic techniques. This project is in progress and through the evaluation of the antifungal activity of the metabolic extracts of these strains against the phytopathogens Macrophomina phaseolina, Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, we found five potential strains producing bioactive compounds, with two strains (AM24 and AM36) being the most promising ones. Analyzes using metabolomic tools based on in tandem mass spectrometry will allow the dereplication of already known compounds present in the extracts, as well as assist in the selection of bioactive metabolites to be isolated from the selected strains, these preferably not yet described in the literature.