Plipastatin A1 produced by a marine sediment-derived Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SH-B74 contributes to the control of gray mold disease in tomato.

Certain Bacillus species have the capacity to produce cyclic lipopeptides and these lipopeptides are promising determinants contributing to the biocontrol of plant diseases. In the current study, a cyclic lipopeptide plipastatin A1 was isolated from the fermentation broth of a marine sediment-derived Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SH-B74 by the combination of solid-phase extraction and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and its structure was identified by tandem mass spectrometry, high-resolution electro-spray ionization mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry together with nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. Moreover, data from activity evaluation revealed that plipastatin A1 has excellent in vitro activity on the suppression of the conidia germination of B. cinerea, the causal agent of gray mold disease in tomato. Furthermore, plipastatin A1 can successfully decrease the incidence of gray mold disease on tomato leaves at 50 µM concentration. This study indicates that B. amyloliquefaciens SH-B74 appears to be a potentially sustainable pesticide to control gray mold disease in tomato plants, and its cyclic lipopeptide plipastatin A1 plays an important role in the in vitro and in planta biocontrol of B. cinerea.