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Main conclusion Rice sheath blight research should prioritise optimising biological control approaches, identification of resistance gene mechanisms and application in genetic improvement and smart farming for early disease detection.

Many bacterial secondary products are bioactive substances that play an important role in biotechnology and pharmacology (e.g., as antibiotics or antitumor agents). Over the past few years interest in prodigiosin has been increased due to its promising anti-cancer activity. Prodigiosin is also of potential clinical interest because it is reported to have anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-protozoal/anti-malarial, and immunosuppressive activity. Thus there is a need to develop a high-throughput and cost-effective bioprocess for the production of prodigiosin. In the present study, Serratia rubidaea was isolated from colored portion of a spoiled coconut and further it was authenticated by MTCC, India. The various parameters like temperature, pH, salt concentration, and precursors were optimized for the production of prodigiosin. We now report that the pigment production was higher in our isolated strain than S. marcescens. It was observed that prodigiosin binds with plastic, paper, and fibers and thus in near future, it can also be used as a natural dye.

Plants resistant to the fungal pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans were generated by an interspecific cross between the highly susceptible Brassica napus (canola) and the highly resistant Brassica carinata. Changes in the leaf protein profiles of these lines were investigated in order to understand the biochemical basis for the observed resistance. Two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by tandem mass spectrometry led to the identification of proteins unique to the susceptible (5 proteins) and resistant genotypes (7 proteins) as well those that were differentially expressed in the resistant genotype 48 h after challenge with the pathogen (28 proteins). Proteins identified as being unique in the resistant plant material included superoxide dismutase, nitrate reductase, and carbonic anhydrase. Photosynthetic enzymes (fructose bisphosphate aldolase, triose phosphate isomerase, sedoheptulose bisphosphatase), dehydroascorbate reductase, peroxiredoxin, malate dehydrogenase, glutamine synthetase, N-glyceraldehyde-2-phosphotransferase, and peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase were observed to be elevated in the resistant genotype upon pathogen challenge. Increased levels of the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase were further validated and supported by spectrophotometric and in-gel activity assays. Other proteins identified in this study such as nitrate reductase and peptidylprolyl isomerase have not been previously described in this plant-pathogen system, and their potential involvement in an incompatible interaction is discussed.

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