Biological Control of Rice Blast (Magnaporthe oryzae) by use of Streptomyces sindeneusis isolate 263 in Greenhouse

Soil Actinomycetes particularly Streptomyces spp. have antagonistic activity against wide range of plant pathogens. In the recent decades they have attracted high interests as biocontrol agents. In search for finding such principles, in vitro suppression of Magnaporthe oryzae the causal agent of rice blast disease was studied by use of Streptomyces sindeneusis isolate 263 in greenhouse. Spray of rice seedling-leaves with of mixed spore suspension of the pathogen and S. sindeneusis isolate 263 resulted in strong inhibition of the pathogen and suppression of leaf symptoms. Propagation of the antagonist crude sap was performed in aqueous cultures and bioactivity was monitored in shaked cultures. Ongoing goals of this research include isolation, characterization and identification of the active metabolites and future goals include identification of active genes for use in development of recombinant DNAs in transgenic rice varieties bearing elevated resistance to infections by M. oryzae.