RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Screening of tomato seed bacterial endophytes for antifungal activity reveals lipopeptide producing Bacillus siamensis as a potential bio-control agent JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.10.09.332627 DO 10.1101/2020.10.09.332627 A1 Ayushi Sharma A1 Nutan Kaushik A1 Abhishek Sharma A1 Abhay Bajaj A1 Mandar Rasane A1 Yogesh S. Shouche A1 Takwa Marzouk A1 Naceur Djébali YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/09/2020.10.09.332627.abstract AB The current study investigates the diversity pattern and fungicidal potential of bacterial endophytes isolated from two different organic varieties of tomato plants (V1 and V2). A total of seventy-four bacterial isolates identified by 16S rRNA sequencing revealed a single genus Bacillus with 16 different species. The Shannon diversity H’ (1.45), Simpson’s index of diversity (0.9), Magalef’ index (2.1), Evenness (0.96), and Species richness (8) indicated the high endophytic bacterial diversity in the V1 variety of the tomato. Bacterial endophytes isolated from both the varieties were screened for their antifungal activity against five economically critical fungal pathogens (viz., Botrytis cinerea, Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium solani, Verticillium lateritium, and Alternaria solani) of tomato crop through dual culture assay. The data revealed B. siamensis KCTC 13613(T) as the most potent antagonist significantly (p < 0.05), inhibiting the mycelial growth between 75 to 90% against selected fungal pathogens. High bioactivity of lipopeptide extract of B. siamensis was recorded against R. solani with IC50 value of 72 ppm. The UPLC-HDMS analysis of this lipopeptide extract revealed the presence of, Surfactin and Bacillomycin D.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.