Identification of plant-derived antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from resistant wild potato species as new bio-pesticides against major bacterial and fungal potato diseases in Canada

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Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural antibiotics arising from the host innate immune system. They exist**in all life forms from microorganisms to humans. In response to pathogen attack, AMPs are rapidly released to**form a first line of defense. Positively charged AMPs bind to the negatively charged bacterial membrane, or the**negatively charged glycoproteins located at the fungal cell walls, leading to membrane depolarization and death**of the pathogens. Due to their direct and potent mode of action, AMPs have minimal risk of raising resistance,**making them an excellent alternative to traditional antibiotics in treatment of resistant infections. AMPs have**also been widely used as food preservatives. In contrast, the application of AMPs in agriculture has been**largely hindered by regulations and minimal public acceptance of AMP-transgenic plants. Our initial goal is to**fill the gap of insufficient development of AMP-based biological products in plant pathogen control using**bio-innovation. In collaboration with Progest 2001 Inc., we will explore the potential of novel AMPs from wild**potato species known to be highly resistant to bacterial and fungal invasion, contrary to the cultivated potato.**These AMPs, individually and in combinations, will be expressed and tested on major bacterial and fungal**potato pathogens using classical microbicidal activity assay on Petri dishes, the Resazurin-based microdilution**method in 96-well plates, and with microfluidic devices that can monitor multiple experiments simultaneously,**increase robustness, speed and lower culture media costs, depending on the pathogen tested.