Synthetic Microbial Community Members Interact to Metabolize Caproic Acid to Inhibit Potato Dry Rot Disease

Abstract

The potato dry rot disease caused by Fusarium spp. seriously reduces potato yield and threatens human health. However, potential biocontrol agents cannot guarantee the stability and activity of biocontrol. Here, 18 synthetic microbial communities of different scales were constructed, and the synthetic microbial communities with the best biocontrol effect on potato dry rot disease were screened through in vitro and in vivo experiments. The results show that the synthetic community composed of Paenibacillus amylolyticus, Pseudomonas putida, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Serratia proteamaculans, Actinomycetia bacterium and Bacillus subtilis has the best biocontrol activity. Metabolomics results show that Serratia protoamaculans interacts with other member strains to produce caproic acid and reduce the disease index to 38.01%. Furthermore, the mycelial growth inhibition after treatment with caproic acid was 77.54%, and flow cytometry analysis showed that the living conidia rate after treatment with caproic acid was 11.2%. This study provides potential value for the application of synthetic microbial communities in potatoes, as well as the interaction mechanisms between member strains of synthetic microbial communities.