@conference{
author = "Kovacs, Tamas and Bali, Dominika and Solti-Hodovan, Agnes and Obradović, Aleksa and Gašić, Katarina and Stefani, Emilio and Altin, Irem and Gopalakrishnan, Chelappan and Fieseler, Lars and Ravasz, Szabolcs and Rakhely, Gabor",
year = "2021",
abstract = "Bacterial plant diseases can cause significant economic losses worldwide. There is an urgent need for the development
and application of sustainable biocontrol agents against plant pathogenic bacteria. Bacteriophages are promising antimicrobial
agents, as it was demonstrated for five phytopathogenic bacteria. Phages infecting Acidovorax citrulli, causing
seedling blight and bacterial fruit blotch of cucurbits, were isolated and characterized. Lytic life cycle and some of the biological
characteristics of investigated phage strains indicated their potential in the control of watermelon fruit blotch. Xanthomonas
euvesicatoria causes bacterial spot disease of pepper and tomato. Phage KΦ1 was isolated from the rhizosphere
of pepper plants showing symptoms of bacterial spot. Foliar applications of the unformulated KΦ1 phage suspension
effectively controlled pepper bacterial spot compared to the standard treatment and the untreated control. Xanthomonas
oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is the most devastating agent of rice, causing its bacterial leaf blight (BLB). We isolated and characterized
ten OP2-like bacteriophages. Laboratory efficacy trials strengthened the hypothesis that these bacteriophages
can control BLB effectively. A bacteriophage cocktail protected rice plants against Xoo successfully during a field trial.
Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis (Xaj) causes walnut blight disease. Bacteriophages against Xaj were isolated from
Italian and Hungarian samples and characterized. Two phages were tested individually for their ability to suppress symptoms
in walnut plantlets following bacterial inoculation. A significant reduction in the degree of symptoms was observed
following phage application when compared to the control. We formulated a cocktail containing six bacteriophages and
implemented field trials by spraying the phage suspension on different Juglans regia varieties. The applied bacteriophage
cocktail protected walnut trees against Xaj effectively, albeit the efficacy was different depending on which variety was
treated. Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight disease of Rosaceae plants. 125 bacteriophages were isolated from soil, and
aerial samples were taken in Hungary, Romania, and Spain, from which 55 showed lytic plaque morphology. Based on
host range analysis conducted on 101 bacterium strains, 27 phages were subject of detailed characterization. The applied
bacteriophage cocktail carefully formulated protected apple trees against E. amylovora during two field trials. A special
permit was issued for marketing the Erwiphage bacteriophage-based biopesticide in 2012. This product was the first bacteriophage-
based biocontrol agent against E. amylovora and the second one among all bacteriophages-based biopesticide
that was available on the market worldwide. Our results support that bacteriophages are potent biocontrol agents against
phytopathogenic bacteria.",
publisher = "University of Pecs",
journal = "6th Central European Forum for Microbiology, 14-16, October 2021, Kecskemét, Hungary",
title = "BACTERIOPHAGE-BASED BIOCONTROL AGAINST PLANT PATHOGENIC BACTERIA"
}
