• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2012

Indole compound is a bacterial metabolite synthesized and released by an entomopathogenic bacterium, Xenorhabdus nematophila K1. The antibiotic activity was evaluated against plant pathogens, such as Phytophthora blight and anthracnose of red pepper. Indole significantly suppressed mycelial growth of Phytophthora blight and anthracnose pathogens. Under natural sunlight conditions, indole maintained the antifungal activity for at least sixty days. The activity was not affected under the condition of soil-water. When the indole suspension was applied to surface soil before transplanting of red pepper seedlings and was then regularly sprayed to the foliage of the plants with ten days interval, it resulted in significant reduction of the disease occurrences (Phytophthora blight, anthracnose, soft rot, and black mold) by about 30%. These results suggest that indole can be used to control Phytophthora blight and anthracnose of red pepper.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.96.2-97
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• 2003

More than 1200 microorganisms were isolated from soil samples collected from various sources and localities. Among the isolates, 2 actinomyces (TH-04 and BA313) and 1 Bacillus sp. (CJ3) were selected as antagonists to pepper anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. These 3 isolates inhibitied mycelial growth of C gloeosporioides and the inhibition rates were over 70％ on PDA. When the isolates were co-cultured with conidia of C. gloeosporioides in potato dextrose broth, conidial germination was severely inhibited and the inhibition rates of TH-04, BA313, and CJ3 at 24 hours were 75％, 72％, and 68％, respectively. The inhibition rates at n hours incubation were not much different from the rates at 24 hours. To check the activity on the plant, each isolate was mixed with equal volume of conidial suspension of C. gloeosporioides and wound-inoculated on green pepper fruit. After 6 days, the anthracnose lesions on the fruits inoculated with the mixture were much smaller than the lesions caused by the C. gloeosporioides itself. The lesion areas of TH-04 or BA313 treated pepper were less than 30％ of the check. TH-04 and BA313 also showed antagonistic activity to Phytophthora spp. and Botrytis cinerea. By scanning electron microscopy and fatty acid analyses (MIDI), TH-04 and BA313 were identified to Streptomyces halstedii and S. violaceusniger, repectively.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.178-184
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• 2010

Four major diseases of chili pepper including two fungal diseases, anthracnose (Colletotrichum acutatum) and Phytophthora blight (Phytophthora capsici), and two bacterial diseases, bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) and bacterial spot (Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria), were investigated under future climate-change condition treatments in growth chambers. Treatments with elevated $CO_2$ and temperature were maintained at $720ppm{\pm}20ppm$ $CO_2$ and $30^{\circ}C{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$, whereas ambient conditions were maintained at $420ppm{\pm}20ppm$ $CO_2$ and $25^{\circ}C{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$. Pepper seedlings or fruits were infected with each pathogen, and then the disease progress was evaluated in the growth chambers. According to paired t-test analyses, bacterial wilt and spot diseases significantly increased by 24% (p=0.008) and 25% (p=0.016), respectively, with elevated $CO_2$ and temperature conditions. On the other hand, neither Phytophthora blight (p=0.906) nor anthracnose (p=0.125) was statistically significant. The elevated $CO_2$ and temperature accelerated the progress of bacterial wilt by two days and bacterial spot by one day compared to the ambient treatment. Temperature regime studies of the diseases without changes in $CO_2$ confirmed that the accelerated bacterial disease progress was mainly due to the increased temperature rather than the elevated $CO_2$ conditions.

• Mycobiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.194-199
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• 2011

Pepper anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum species is one of the most important limiting factors for pepper production in Korea, its management being strongly dependent on chemicals. The aim of this work was to evaluate the possibilities of using silver nanoparticles instead of commercial fungicides. In this study, we evaluated the effect of silver nanoparticles against pepper anthracnose under different culture conditions. Silver nanoparticles (WA-PR-WB13R) were applied at various concentrations to determine antifungal activities in vitro and in the field. The application of 100 ppm concentration of silver nanoparticles produced maximum inhibition of the growth of fungal hyphae as well as conidial germination in comparison to the control in vitro. In field trials, the inhibition of fungi was significantly high when silver nanoparticles were applied before disease outbreak on the plants. Scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the silver nanoparticles caused a detrimental effect on mycelial growth of Colletotrichum species.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.253-259
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• 2015

Anthracnose caused by Collectotrichum acutatum is the most devastating disease of pepper plants in Korea. In this study, we evaluated the effect of selected antagonistic bacteria on control of anthracnose and plant growth promotion of pepper plants under field conditions. Four different bacterial isolates used in the current study were isolated from the pepper rhizosphere (GJ01, GJ11) and tidal flat (LB01, LB14) in previous studies. Four bacterial isolates, together with a control strain (EXTN-1), showed antifungal activity against C. acutatum in a dual culture assay. To test for plant growth promotion effect, seedling vigor index and growth parameters of pepper were measured under field condition. As a result, all four bacterial isolates were effective for improving plant growth promotion. The strain GJ01 was the most effective in improving the seedling vigor on pepper, but the strain GJ11 in increasing the pepper fruit yield. The incidence of anthracnose was inhibited in the range of 63.2~72.5% by treatment of four bacterial isolates. The current study indicated that the four bacterial isolates could be used as potential biological control agents of anthracnose disease of pepper.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2009

Lichen-forming fungi (LEF) were isolated from 67 Hungarian lichen species from ascospores or thallus fragments. LFF were successfully isolated from 26 species with isolation rate of 38.8%. Of the total number of isolation from ascospores (27 species) and thallus fragments (40 species), 48% and 32.5% of the species were successfully isolated, respectively. Comparison of rDNA sequences of ITS regions between the isolated LFF and the original thallus confirmed that all the isolates originated from the thallus fragments were LEF. The following 14 species of LEF were newly isolated in this study; Acarospora cervina, Bacidia rubella, Cladonia pyxidata, Lasallia pustulata, Lecania hyaline, Lecanora argentata, Parmelina tiliacea, Parmotrema chinense, Physconia distorta, Protoparmeliopsis muralis, Ramalina pollinaria, Sarcogyne regularis, Umbilicaria hirsuta, Xanthoparmelia conspersa and X. stenophylla. Antifungal activity of the Hungarian LFF was evaluated against plant pathogenic fungi of Colletotrichum acutatum, C. coccodes and C. gloeosporioides, causal agent of anthracnose on hot pepper. Among the 26 isolates, 11 LFF showed more than 50% of inhibition rates of mycelial growth of at least one target pathogen. Especially, LFF of Evernia prunastri, Lecania hyalina and Lecanora argentata were remarkably effective in inhibition of mycelial growth of all the tested pathogens with antibiotic mode of action. On the other hands, five isolates of Cladonia furcata, Hypogymnia physodes, Lasallia pustulata, Ramalina fastigiata and Ramalina pollinaria exhibited fungal lytic activity against all the three pathogens. Among the tested fungal pathogens, C. coccodes seemed to be most sensitive to the LFF. The Hungarian LFF firstly isolated in this study can be served as novel bioresources to develop new biofungicides alternative to current fungicides to control hot pepper anthracnose pathogenic fungi.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2008

As an effort to search new bacterial biocontrol agents against pepper anthracnose, we screened myxobacteria, which might inhibit the growth of Colletotrichum acutatum, the agent of that plant disease. When 93 myxobacterial strains including 59 Myxococcus spp. and 34 Corallococcus spp. were tested against C. acutatum ACYSJ001 on agar plates, 10 strains identified as the genus Myxococcus significantly obstructed the growth of C. acutatum, whereas the majority of strains belonging to the genus Corallococcus did not demonstrate any counteractive effect. Such results have indicated that the strains of the genus Myxococcus have a high potential to play roles of biocontrol agents for control of pepper anthracnose. These also have revealed that the strains of the genus Myxococcus could be used as excellent microbial resources for screening novel antifungal substances.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.280-285
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• 2006

Methanol extract of the rhizomes of turmeric, Curcuma longa L., effectively controlled the development of red pepper anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum coccodes. In addition three antifungal substances were identified from the methanol extract of C. longa rhizomes as curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin using mass and $^{1}H-NMR$ spectral analyses. The curcuminoids in a range $0.4-100\;{\mu}g/ml$ effectively inhibited the mycelial growth of three red pepper anthracnose pathogens, C. coccodes, C. gloeosporioides, and C. acutatum. The three curcuminoids inhibited mycelial growth of C. coccodes and C. gloeosporioides to an extent similar to the synthetic fungicide dithianon did, but the synthetic agent was a little more effective against C. acutatum. The curcuminoids also effectively inhibited spore germination of C. coccodes, and bisdemethoxycurcumin was the most active. Among the three curcuminoids, only demethoxycurcumin was effective in a greenhouse test in suppressing red pepper anthracnose caused by C. coccodes.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2019

Fungi produce various secondary metabolites that have beneficial and harmful effects on other organisms. Those bioactive metabolites have been explored as potential medicinal and antimicrobial resources. However, the activities of the culture filtrate (CF) and metabolites of whiterot fungus (Schizophyllum commune) have been underexplored. In this study, we assayed the antimicrobial activities of CF obtained from white-rot fungus against various plant pathogens and evaluated its efficacy for controlling anthracnose and gray mold in pepper plants. The CF inhibited the mycelial growth of various fungal plant pathogens, but not of bacterial pathogens. Diluted concentrations of CF significantly suppressed the severity of anthracnose and gray mold in pepper fruits. Furthermore, the incidence of anthracnose in field conditions was reduced by treatment with a 12.5% dilution of CF. The active compound responsible for the antifungal and disease control activity was identified and verified as schizostatin. Our results indicate that the CF of white-rot fungus can be used as an eco-friendly natural product against fungal plant pathogens. Moreover, the compound, schizostatin could be used as a biochemical resource or precursor for development as a pesticide. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the control of plant diseases using CF and active compound from white-rot fungus. We discussed the controversial antagonistic activity of schizostatin and believe that the CF of white-rot fungus or its active compound, schizostatin, could be used as a biochemical pesticide against fungal diseases such as anthracnose and gray mold in many vegetables.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.8-18
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• 2020

Red pepper, one of the major economic crops in Korea, is being affected by anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum acutatum. To control this disease, an antagonistic bacterial strain, Bacillus subtilis YGB36 identified by 16S rDNA sequencing, physiological and biochemical analyses is used as a biological control agent. In vitro screening revealed that the strain YGB36 possess strong antifungal activity against the pathogen Cylindrocarpon destructans. The strain exhibited cellulase, protease, amylase, siderophore production and phosphate solubility. In vitro conidial germination of C. acutatum was most drastically inhibited by YGB36 cell suspensions (10⁶ cfu/ml) or culture filtrate. Development of anthracnose symptoms was reduced on detached immature green pepper fruits by treatment with cell suspensions, and its control value was recorded as 65.7%. The YGB36 bacterial suspension treatment enhanced the germination rate of red pepper seeds and promoted root development and growth under greenhouse conditions. The in vitro screening of fungicide and insecticide sensitivity test against YGB36 revealed that the bacterial growth was not affected by any of the insecticides, and 11 fungicides out of 21 used. Collectively, our results clearly suggest that the strain YGB36 is considered as one of the potential biocontrol agents against anthracnose disease in red pepper.