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Extracellular Antifungal Activity of Chitinase-Producing Bacteria Isolated From Guano of Insectivorous Bats

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Abstract

A reduction in the use of agrochemicals requires the development of either alternatives or complementary control methods in order to limit their dangerousness. An alternative is the biological control of fungi by bacteria. The fungal cell wall is a unique structure of the fungi, composed of glucan, chitin, and glycoproteins. Therefore, bacteria producing mycolytic enzymes, like chitinases, are of great interest to degrade fungal cell-wall components. The objectives of this work were to isolate chitinolytic bacteria from the guano of insectivorous bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) and to verify the presence of antifungal activities against phytopathogenic fungi. From the guano samples, 28 bacterial isolates were obtained, 70% of which presented chitinolytic activity. Four isolates were selected since they showed the highest values of chitinase activity, and they were characterized as belonging to Bacillus genus, by analyzing the 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence. Cell-free supernatants of bacterial cultures were used in inhibition tests on 16 fungi: Alternaria and Colletotrichum acutatum were the most affected. Chitinase and antifungal activities were observed in the cell-free supernatant regardless of the culture medium used. Both activities were stable to heat and proteinase K treatments. Finally, when the culture medium was supplemented with 1 ml of cell-free supernatants (0.33%) and incubated for 120 h, the inhibition of hyphae formation and germination spores of reporter fungus were observed under light microscopy. These results suggest the feasibility of using cell-free supernatants as eco-friendly fungicides. The use of them may contribute to reducing the dose of toxic chemicals.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the financial assistance of CONICET. The authors also thank the Academic style (https://www.academicstyle.com.ar/correcion-estilos) for the English revision of this article.

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Author notes

  1. Delfini CD and Villegas LB contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INQUISAL, CONICET. FQByF, UNSL, Chacabuco 917 (D5700BWS), 5700, San Luis, Argentina

    Delfini CD & Villegas LB

  2. PROIMI, CONICET, Av. Belgrano Y Pje. Caseros, 4000, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina

    Martínez MA & Baigorí MD

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina

    Martínez MA

  4. Facultad de Bioquímica, Química, Farmacia y Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Baigorí MD

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  1. Delfini CD
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design of the work. BM and VL: designed and supervised all the work. DC: carried out the sampling and all the experimental part. MM: identified the microorganisms. DD, MM and VL: drafted and prepared the original draft. The final manuscript has been read, modified and approved by all named authors.

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Correspondence to Villegas LB.

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CD, D., LB, V., MA, M. et al. Extracellular Antifungal Activity of Chitinase-Producing Bacteria Isolated From Guano of Insectivorous Bats. Curr Microbiol 78, 2787–2798 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-021-02555-0

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