Abstract
Marine bacterium, Alteromonas sp. strain 79401 was shown to suppress the conidial growth of plant pathogenic fungi Botrytis cinerea and B. fabae in vitro by means of its high chitinolytic activity. To use the ability of this bacterium for biocontrol, a DNA fragment (ca. 12kb) carrying the chitinolytic enzyme gene(s) was cloned into the plasmid pBR322. The resulting plasmid, pALCHI1, was introduced into Escherichia coli strain DH5. B. cinerea and B. fabae could not grow in the vicinity of the transformed E. coli colonies in vitro. Conidial germination and hyphal growth were markedly suppressed. Swelling of the conidia and germ tubes and bursting of hyphal tips were observed under a microscope, suggesting that the chitinolytic enzyme affected the fungal cell walls. This chitinolytic enzyme gene might be useful for the biocontrol of Botrytis spp. and other plant pathogenic fungi.
