Beneficial microbes on citrus skin can outcompete green mold in storage
Silva E, Santana Aguiar MC, Vilhena Araújo E, França P, Berlinck RGS
Postharvest Disease
Every orange, lemon, and mandarin sitting in storage or on a store shelf is quietly vulnerable to a mold that destroys more citrus postharvest than any other pathogen on earth, and the sprays used to stop it are under increasing regulatory pressure.
When citrus fruit is picked and stored, a mold called green mold can spread rapidly and wipe out entire batches. Scientists have been mapping exactly how this mold breaks into fruit and evades its defenses, using cutting-edge gene-editing tools to test each piece of the puzzle. The exciting shift is that researchers are now designing teams of beneficial microbes, found naturally on citrus, that can protect fruit by crowding out the mold, producing natural antibiotics, and waking up the fruit's own immune responses.
Key Findings
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing has identified specific fungal proteins, including cell wall-degrading enzymes and membrane transporters, that are essential for Penicillium digitatum to successfully infect citrus.
Biological control agents suppress green mold through at least seven distinct mechanisms, including volatile organic compound production, iron sequestration, biofilm formation, and direct induction of host phytohormone defenses.
Synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) assembled from citrus-associated microbiomes represent an emerging next-generation strategy designed to improve efficacy, stability, and ecological resilience over single-agent biocontrols.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A new review consolidates what researchers have learned about how the fungus Penicillium digitatum rots citrus fruit after harvest, and how living microbes can be used to stop it without chemical fungicides. The research highlights genetic tools that revealed how the fungus attacks fruit, alongside promising microbial communities that fight back through competition, chemical warfare, and triggering the fruit's own defenses.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Green Mold of Citrus: Recent Insights into Penicillium digitatum Pathogenicity and Biological Control Strategies.
P. digitatum, the causal agent of citrus green mold, remains the most destructive postharvest pathogen of citrus worldwide. Recent advances have greatly expanded our understanding of the molecular ...
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