Rice yield is greatly reduced owing to rice blast, a polycyclic fungal disease caused by the ascomycete Magnaporthe oryzae. Previously, Bacillus cereus HS24, isolated from a rice farm, showed a strong antimicrobial effect toward M. oryzae. To better exploit it as a biocontrol agent, HS24 was studied for the mechanism that it uses to suppress rice blast. Conidium germination in M. oryzae was significantly inhibited by HS24, whereby inhibition reached 97.8% at the concentration of 10⁷CFU/ml. The transcription levels of Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, PMC1, and CCH1, key genes involved in the M. oryzae Ca²⁺signaling pathway, were significantly decreased in HS24-treated conidia at high concentration. The treatment of M. oryzae with the corresponding Ca²⁺signaling pathway inhibitors KN-93, verapamil, and cyclopiazonic acid significantly reduced conidium germination. This inhibitory effect was found to be concentration dependent, similar to the HS24 treatment. We also found that HS24 was able to decrease the intracellular free Ca²⁺concentration in M. oryzae conidia significantly. The addition of exogenous Ca²⁺did not diminish the inhibitory effect of HS24 on the reduction of intracellular free Ca²⁺concentration and the level of conidium germination. In conclusion, B. cereus HS24 at high concentration prevents extracellular Ca²⁺from entering the conidia in M. oryzae, causes a significant reduction of intracellular free Ca²⁺concentration, and results in the inhibition of conidium germination.

This study evaluated the ability of a high-voltage electrostatic field (HVEF) treatment to extend the shelf life of tomatoes. Tomatoes were exposed to HVEF treatment for different lengths of time, and the physicochemical properties of tomatoes and bioactive compounds were monitored during 28 days of storage at 4 °C. The results indicated that the quality parameters of tomatoes were better maintained during storage by the HVEF treatment relative to the control treatment, extending their shelf life by 14–28 days. The HVEF treatment mitigated losses in firmness, weight, color changes, and bioactive substances, such as total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, ascorbic acid, and lycopene. The activity of pectin-degrading enzymes was also inhibited. The best exposure times for the HVEF treatment were 90 and 120 min. While the measured parameters decreased in both the control and HVEF treatment groups, the decrease in all of these measured parameters was significantly less (p < 0.05) in the optimum HVEF treatment groups than in the control. While the physicochemical properties may vary between different tomato varieties, the HVEF treatment of harvested tomatoes for 90 or 120 min can mitigate the degradation of quality parameters and loss of bioactive compounds incurred during the postharvest storage of tomatoes, thus maintaining their commercial value.

Alternative splicing plays a crucial role in enhancing the protein diversity of eukaryotic genomes. However, alternative splicing has not been extensively studied in Botrytis cinerea. In this study, we examined the distribution and regulation of alternative splicing in the filamentous plant pathogenic fungus B. cinerea through strand-specific RNA sequencing at various stages of infection of Solanum lycopersicum. During infection (pre-penetration and biotrophic stage), most spliceosome genes had upregulated expression levels, indicating that splicing is altered at this stage. A total of 3308 genes underwent alternative splicing in B. cinerea, resulting in 7466 alternative splicing events, most of which were stage-specific. Transcripts generated through alternative splicing typically exhibit lower expression levels, coding potential, and functional domains, which are more prevalent during the hyphal phase compared to the infestation phase. To conclude, our research offers an extensive analysis of the genome-wide alternative splicing in B. cinerea throughout the infection process, acting as a significant resource for further clarifying the pathogenic mechanisms associated with B. cinerea.