Skip to main content
Log in

Porostereum sp., Associated with Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), is a Latent Pathogen Capable of Producing Phytotoxic Chlorinated Aromatic Compounds

  • Published:
Current Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most expensive spices in the world due to its medicinal and aromatic value. However, saffron production is severely affected by the corm rot disease throughout the saffron producing countries. In this study, we report a basidiomycetous latent pathogen of saffron, designated as CSE26, capable of producing phytotoxic compounds. CSE26 is a highly odorous basidiomycete with monomitic hyphal system. Molecular phylogeny of ITS and 28S ribosomal gene sequence of CSE26 assigned it as Porostereum spadiceum. It was found to produce corm rot in C. sativus under in vivo and field conditions, with a disease severity index of 0.7 and 0.5, respectively. CSE26 was found to produce chlorinated aromatic compounds (CAMs) having phytotoxic activity against Arabidopsis plants. Therefore, these compounds may be acting as pathogenic determinants of CSE26. However, there is a need to study the level of production of these CAMs by this fungus in the natural environment and their effects on plant health.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Agayev YM, Zarifi E, Fernandez JA (2010) A study of karyotypes in the crocus sativus L. aggregate and origin of cultivated saffron. Acta hort 850:47–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ahrazem O, Rubio-Moraga A, Castillo-Lopez R, Trapero-Mozos A, Gómez-Gómez L (2010) Crocus sativus pathogens and defence responses. In: Husaini AM (ed) Functional plant science and biotechnology. Saffron Global Science Books, Ltd, London, p 81–90

    Google Scholar 

  3. Anderson JM, Goodchild DJ, Boardman NK (1973) Composition of the photosystems and chloroplast structure in extreme shade plants. Biochim Biophys Acta 325:573–585

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Atri NS, Sharma SK (2012) Qualitative estimation of cellulase and lignin modifying enzymes in five wild fungal species collected from northern west india. Acad J Plant Sci 5:23–27

    Google Scholar 

  5. Baer D, Gudmestad NC (1995) In vitro cellulolytic activity of the plant pathogen Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus. Can J Microbiol 41:877–888

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Baldrian P, Valásková V (2008) Degradation of cellulose by basidiomycetous fungi. FEMS Microbiol Rev 32:501–521

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Berger S, Sinha AK, Roitsch T (2007) Plant physiology meets phytopathology: plant primary metabolism and plant-pathogen interactions. J Exp Bot 58:4019–4026

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Carrasco M, Villarreal P, Barahona S, Alcaíno J, Cifuentes V, Baeza M (2016) Screening and characterization of amylase and cellulase activities in psychrotolerant yeasts. BMC Microbiol 16:21

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. de Jong E, Cazemier AE, Field JA, de Bont JA (1994) Physiological role of chlorinated aryl alcohols biosynthesized de novo by the white rot fungus Bjerkandera sp. Strain BOS55. Appl Environ Microbiol 60:271–277

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Di Primo P, Cappelli C (2000) Preliminary characterization of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli causing fusarium corm rot of saffron in Italy. Plant Dis 84:806–806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ezra D, Hess WM, Strobel GA (2004) New endophytic isolates of Muscodor albus, a volatile—antibiotic-producing fungus. Microbiology 12:4023–4031

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Griebeler N, Polloni AE, Remonatto D, Arbter F, Vardanega R, Cechet JL, Luccio MD, de Oliveira D, Treichel H, Cansian RL, Rigo E, Ninow JL (2011) Isolation and screening of lipase-producing fungi with hydrolytic activity. Food Bioprocess Technol 4:578

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hendry GA, Houghton JD, Brown SB (1987) The degradation of chlorophyll—a biological enigma. New Phytol 107:255–302

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Husaini AM, Hassan B, Ghani MY, Teixeira da Silva JA, Kirmani NA (2010) Saffron (Crocus sativus Kashmirianus) cultivation in Kashmir: practices and problems. In: Husaini AM (ed) Functional Plant Science and Biotechnology, 4th edn Saffron Global Science Books, Ltd, London, p 108–115

    Google Scholar 

  15. Jang Y, Lee SW, Jang S, Lim YW, Lee JS, Kim JK (2012) Four unrecorded wood decay fungi from Seoul in Korea. Mycobiology 40:195–201

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Kalha CS, Gupta V, Gupta D, Priya S (2007) First report of sclerotial rot of saffron caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in India. Plant Dis 91:1203–1203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Kumar R, Singh V, Devi K, Sharma M, Singh MK, Ahuja PS (2009) State of art of saffron (Crocus sativus L) agronomy, a comprehensive review. Food Rev Int 25:44–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Maor R, Haskin S, Levi-Kedmi H, Sharon A (2004) In planta production of indole-3-acetic acid by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides f. sp. aeschynomene. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:1852–1854

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Mester T, Swarts HJ, Romero i Sole S, de Bont JA, Field JA (1997) Stimulation of aryl metabolite production in the basidiomycete Bjerkandera sp. strain BOS55 with biosynthetic precursors and lignin degradation products. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:1987–1994

    PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Porra RJ, Thompson WA, Kriedemann PE (1989) Determination of Accurate extinction coefficients and simultaneous equations for assaying chlorophyll a and b extracted with four different solvents: verification of the concentration of chlorophyll standards by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Biochim Biophy Acta-Bioenerg 975:384–394

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Quintana N, El Kassis EG, Stermitz FR, Vivanco JM (2009) Phytotoxic compounds from roots of Centaurea diffusa Lam. Plant Signal Behav 4:9–14

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Rodarte MP, Dias DR, Vilela DM, Schwan RF (2011) Proteolytic activities of bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi isolated from coffee fruit (Coffea arabica L.). Acta Sci Agron 33:3

    Google Scholar 

  23. Schwyn B, Neilands JB (1987) Universal chemical assay for the detection and determination of siderophores. Anal Biochem 160:47–56

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Shahi T, Assadpour E, Jafari SM (2016) Main chemical compounds and pharmacological activities of stigmas and tepals of ‘red gold’; saffron. Trends Food Sci Technol 58:69–78

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Subramoni S, Sua´rez-Moreno ZR, Venturi V (2010) Lipases as pathogenicity factors of plant pathogens. In: Timmis KN (ed) Handbook of hydrocarbon and lipid microbiology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 3269–3277

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  26. Swarts HJ, Teunissen PJM, Verhagen FJM, Field JA, Wijnberg PAJ (1997) Chlorinated anisyl metabolites produced by basidiomycetes. Mycol Res 101:372–374

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Wani ZA, Mirza DN, Arora P, Riyaz Ul Hassan S (2016) Molecular phylogeny, diversity, community structure, and plant growth promoting properties of fungal endophytes associated with the corms of saffron plant: An insight into the microbiome of Crocus sativus Linn. Fungal Biol 120:1509–1524

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Yarullina LG, Akhatova AR, Kasimova RI (2016) Hydrolytic enzymes and their proteinaceous inhibitors in regulation of plant–pathogen interactions. Russ J Plant Physiol 63:193

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the CSIR 12th FYP project (Grant number: PMSI-BSC0117) and MLP1008 of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India. Z.A.W. is thankful to CSIR for Senior Research Fellowship. T.A. is thankful to UGC for Junior Research Fellowship. The article bears the institutional Manuscript no. IIIM/2176/2017.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Syed Riyaz-Ul-Hassan.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 5108 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wani, Z.A., Ahmad, T., Nalli, Y. et al. Porostereum sp., Associated with Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), is a Latent Pathogen Capable of Producing Phytotoxic Chlorinated Aromatic Compounds. Curr Microbiol 75, 880–887 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-018-1461-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-018-1461-9

Navigation