Bacterial Panicle Blight caused by Burkholderia glumae is a major disease of rice, which has dramatically affected rice production around the world in the last years. In this study we describe the assessment of three Streptomyces isolates as biocontrol agents for B. glumae. Additionally, the presence of other plant-growth promoting abilities and their possible beneficial effects upon their inoculation on rice plants was evaluated as an ecological analysis for their future inoculation in rice crops. Two isolates (A20 and 5.1) inhibited growth of virulent B. glumae strains, as well as a wide range of bacterial and fungal species, while a third strain (7.1) showed only antifungal activity. In vitro tests demonstrated the ability of these strains to produce siderophores, Indoleacetic acid (IAA), extracellular enzymes and solubilizing phosphate. Greenhouse experiments with two rice cultivars indicated that Streptomyces A20 is able to colonize rice plants and promote plant growth in both cultivars. Furthermore, an egfp tagged mutant was generated and colonization experiments were performed, indicating that Streptomyces A20 –GFP was strongly associated with root hairs, which may be related to the plant growth promotion observed in the gnotobiotic experiments. In order to characterize the antimicrobial compounds produced by strain A20 bacteria, mass spectrometry analyses were performed. This technique indicated that A20 produced several antimicrobial compounds with sizes below 3 kDa and three of these molecules were identified as Streptotricins D, E and F. These findings indicate the potential of Streptomyces A20 as a biocontrol inoculant to protect rice plants against bacterial diseases.

Marine bacteria are considered as promising sources for the discovery of novel biologically active compounds. In this study, samples of sediment, invertebrate and algae were collected from the Providencia and Santa Catalina coral reef (Colombian Caribbean Sea) with the aim of isolating Actinobateria-like strain able to produce antimicrobial and quorum quenching compounds against pathogens. Several approaches were used to select actinobacterial isolates, obtaining 203 strains from all samples. According to their 16S rRNA gene sequencing, a total of 24 strains was classified within Actinobacteria represented by three genera: Streptomyces, Micromonospora, and Gordonia. In order to assess their metabolic profiles, the actinobacterial strains were grown in liquid cultures, and LC-MS-based analyses from ethyl acetate fractions were performed. Based on taxonomical classification, screening information of activity against phytopathogenic strains and quorum quenching activity, as well as metabolic profiling, six out of the 24 isolates were selected for follow-up with chemical isolation and structure identification analyses of putative metabolites involved in antimicrobial activities.