Antifungal Activity Characterization of Biocontrol Fungus Epicoccum nigrum En13

doi:10.16409/j.cnki.2095-039x.2025.07.009

Abstract

Abstract: Epicoccum nigrum can secrete antifungal metabolites and control plant fungal disease, yet it is poorly studied. Through paired culture and inoculation of endophytic fungi isolated from kiwifruit leaves on kiwifruit, we found a fungus strain No.13 that could protect kiwifruit from fruit rot. By phylogenetic tree analysis based on ITS sequence, the No.13 strain was identified as Epicoccum nigrum and named as En13. To investigate the antifungal spectrum of En13, we analyzed its biocontrol activity to other pathogenic fungi. En13 showed antagonistic activity to Alternaria alternata, Fusarium oxysporum and Magnaporthe oryzae during paired culture, indicating that the antifungal activity of En13 was broad-spectrum. By co-inoculating on plants, we found En13 could inhibit A. alternata infection of tobacco and M. oryzae infection of rice. By genome sequencing, we found the genome of En13 encoded many secondary metabolism gene clusters, including antifungal metabolites metachelin C and aspirochlorine, indicating that En13 inhibits fungi by secreting antifungal metabolites. At last, we screened different media and found soybean medium is the best medium for mycelial growth and conidia production.

Key words: Epicoccum nigrum, antagonistic activity, biocontrol

CLC Number:

S476.2

LIN Long, GUAN Yun, XUE Changda, GAO Penglong, WANG Pingping, CUI Chuanbin, QIAN Guoliang. Antifungal Activity Characterization of Biocontrol Fungus Epicoccum nigrum En13[J]. Chinese Journal of Biological Control, 2026, 42(2): 503-511.

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