Narrow spectrum antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of soft-rot plant disease

保守估计，全世界因植物疾病造成的损失约为1500亿美元，其中约三分之一可归因于细菌感染。在许多情况下，没有良好的繁殖抗性来源，用于防止腐败的化学品越来越被认为是环境不可接受的。我们提出了一种彻底的新方法来解决这个问题，它利用细菌素的狭窄杀灭光谱，细菌素是一种有效的天然产生的蛋白质抗生素，可以选择和部署来针对特定的病原体，同时保持更广泛的植物和土壤相关微生物群的完整。在这个项目中，我们将识别、生产和测试细菌素在植物感染模型中的有效性，这些细菌素针对软腐植物病原菌，如细菌素。这些细菌会在一系列重要的经济作物中引起疾病。为了实现这一目标，将在基因组和系统发育分析、分子生物学、蛋白质生产和植物病理学方面利用和提供计算生物学方面的培训。这项工作将巩固我们的长期愿景，利用不同的细菌素精确靶向植物病原菌，为预防和治疗这些顽固的植物疾病提供一个可持续和实用的解决方案。

Worldwide losses to plant diseases are conservatively estimated at approximately US$150 bn, of which about one third are attributable to bacterial infections. In many cases, good sources of resistance for breeding are not available and the chemicals used to prevent spoilage are increasingly being deemed environmentally unacceptable. We propose a radical new approach to address this problem that exploits the narrow killing spectrum of bacteriocins, potent naturally produced protein antibiotics that can be selected and deployed to target a specific pathogen while leaving the wider plant and soil associated microbiomes intact. In this project, we will identify, produce and test the efficacy in plant infection models of bacteriocins that target soft-rot plant pathogenic bacteria such as species of Pectobacterium. These bacteria cause disease in a range of economically important crops. To achieve this will utilize and provide training in computation biology for genome and phylogenetic analysis, molecular biology, protein production and plant pathology. This work will underpin our long-term vision to utilize diverse bacteriocins for precision targeting of phytopathogenic bacteria, providing a sustainable and practical solution for the prevention and treatment of these recalcitrant plant diseases.