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It has been documented that bacteria from the Burkholderia genera produce different kinds of compounds that inhibit plant pathogens, however in Burkholderia tropica, an endophytic diazotrophic and phosphate-solubilizing bacterium isolated from a wide diversity of plants, the capacity to produce antifungal compounds has not been evaluated. In order to expand our knowledge about Burkholderia tropica as a potential biological control agent, we analyzed 15 different strains of this bacterium to evaluate their capacities to inhibit the growth of four phytopathogenic fungi, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium oxysporum and Sclerotium rolffsi. Diverse analytical techniques, including plant root protection and dish plate growth assays and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy showed that the fungal growth inhibition was intimately associated with the volatile compounds produced by B. tropica and, in particular, two bacterial strains (MTo293 and TTe203) exhibited the highest radial mycelial growth inhibition. Morphological changes associated with these compounds, such as disruption of fungal hyphae, were identified by using photomicrographic analysis. By using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy technique, 18 volatile compounds involved in the growth inhibition mechanism were identified, including α-pinene and limonene. In addition, we found a high proportion of bacterial strains that produced siderophores during growth with different carbon sources, such as alanine and glutamic acid; however, their roles in the antagonism mechanism remain unclear.

We studied the metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by using white rot fungi previously identified as organisms that metabolize polychlorinated biphenyls. Bran flakes medium, which has been shown to support production of high levels of laccase and manganese peroxidase, was used as the growth medium. Ten fungi grown for 5 days in this medium in the presence of anthracene, pyrene, or phenanthrene, each at a concentration of 5 μg/ml could metabolize these PAHs. We studied the oxidation of 10 PAHs by using laccase purified from Coriolopsis gallica. The reaction mixtures contained 20 μM PAH, 15% acetonitrile in 60 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6), 1 mM 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), and 5 U of laccase. Laccase exhibited 91% of its maximum activity in the absence of acetonitrile. The following seven PAHs were oxidized by laccase: benzo[a]pyrene, 9-methylanthracene, 2-methylanthracene, anthracene, biphenylene, acenaphthene, and phenanthrene. There was no clear relationship between the ionization potential of the substrate and the first-order rate constant (k) for substrate loss in vitro in the presence of ABTS. The effects of mediating substrates were examined further by using anthracene as the substrate. Hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) (1 mM) supported approximately one-half the anthracene oxidation rate (k = 2.4 h−1) that ABTS (1 mM) supported (k = 5.2 h−1), but 1 mM HBT plus 1 mM ABTS increased the oxidation rate ninefold compared with the oxidation rate in the presence of ABTS, to 45 h−1. Laccase purified from Pleurotus ostreatus had an activity similar to that ofC. gallica laccase with HBT alone, with ABTS alone, and with 1 mM HBT plus 1 mM ABTS. Mass spectra of products obtained from oxidation of anthracene and acenaphthene revealed that the dione derivatives of these compounds were present.

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