Sarocladium and Lecanicillium Associated with Maize Seeds and Their Potential to Form Selected Secondary Metabolites

Abstract

The occurrence and diversity of Lecanicillium and Sarocladium in maize seeds and their role in this cereal are poorly understood. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate Sarocladium and Lecanicillium communities found in endosphere of maize seeds collected from fields in Poland and their potential to form selected bioactive substances. The sequencing of the internally transcribed spacer regions 1 (ITS 1) and 2 (ITS2) and the large-subunit (LSU, 28S) of the rRNA gene cluster resulted in the identification of 17 Sarocladium zeae strains, three Sarocladium strictum and five Lecanicillium lecanii isolates. The assay on solid substrate showed that S. zeae and S. strictum can synthesize bassianolide, vertilecanin A, vertilecanin A methyl ester, 2-decenedioic acid and 10-hydroxy-8-decenoic acid. This is also the first study revealing the ability of these two species to produce beauvericin and enniatin B1, respectively. Moreover, for the first time in the present investigation, pyrrocidine A and/or B have been annotated as metabolites of S. strictum and L. lecanii. The production of toxic, insecticidal and antibacterial compounds in cultures of S. strictum, S. zeae and L. lecanii suggests the requirement to revise the approach to study the biological role of fungi inhabiting maize seeds.

Epiphytic and Endophytic Fungi Colonizing Seeds of Two Poaceae Weed Species and Fusarium spp. Seed Degradation Potential In Vitro

“…However, its role as an endophyte needs to be studied better. S. strictum isolates obtained from maize kernels could produce mycotoxins, as well as antimicrobial and insecticidal compounds [ 45 ].…”

Microbiome Signature of Endophytes in Wheat Seed Response to Wheat Dwarf Bunt Caused by Tilletia controversa Kühn

“…In particular, the Sarocladium sp. significantly inhibited the germination rate of T. controversa and was previously reported to inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi, such as A. flavus and F. verticillioides ( 57 ). P. lurida can protect Caenorhabditis elegans against pathogens such as Bacillus thuringiensis ( 58 ).…”

Determination of Community Structure and Diversity of Seed-Vectored Endophytic Fungi in Alpinia zerumbet

“…Cladosporium is a rich source of biologically active compounds ( Salvatore et al, 2021 ). Sarocladium plays an efficient role in controlling soil-borne diseases ( Błaszczyk et al, 2021 ). Fusarium plays a significant role in plant growth by depleting Cd 2+ , As 3+ , and Pb 2+ contents and promoting seed germination ( Jin et al, 2017 ).…”