Fungal diseases cause substantial losses of agricultural harvests each year. The fungus Botrytis cinerea causing gray mold disease is a major problem for farmers growing strawberries, grapes, raspberries, tomatoes and lettuce. To mitigate the problem, they often resort to applying chemical fungicides which can lose their effectiveness over time. Danforth Center scientists, Dilip Shah, Ph.D., research associate member, Siva Velivelli, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate, Kirk Czymmek, Ph.D., principal investigator and director, Advanced Bioimaging Laboratory and their collaborators at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have identified a sub class of peptides in the nodules of the legume, Medicago truncatula that proved effective in inhibiting growth of the fungus causing gray mold. The results of their research, Antifungal symbiotic peptide NCR044 exhibits unique structure and multifaceted mechanisms of action that confer plant protection, were recently published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Source: Phys.org