Mycotoxins and fungal pathogens CONTrol by ACTinomycetes – Potentialities of actinomycetes from soils for the development of novel biocontrol products to manage cereals fungal diseases and mycotoxins risk

Cereals represent the primary calory intake around the globe. To ensure sufficient access and yield to these resources,
but also their innocuity, is of outstanding importance for the future. The fungal pathogens of cereals represent a major
risk and lead to various issues such as yield loss, but also to the apparition of harmful molecules such as mycotoxins,
from the field to the storage.
Until now, the main solution for the control of moulds are the application of fungicides. However, misuse and excessive
use of these fungicides can lead to environmental pollution, pesticide resistance, and public health concerns. As a
consequence, agricultural policies aims are more and more directed towards the promotion of alternative
technologies/strategies development for the management of pests and diseases. One of these alternative strategies is
the use of agroecological concepts such as biocontrol of plant pathogens or pests by microorganisms which are
naturally present in the soil ecosystems.
Among these soil inhabitants, actinomycetes bacteria show some of the most promising features for the biocontrol
applications. Carrying a large toolbox of molecules of interests (e.g. enzymes, active metabolites such as antibiotics)
that allow them to settle in the soil environment, they are also able to interact directly with the plant (endophytic habitat,
plant growth promoting traits). If they have been thoroughly studied for their secondary metabolites production (i.e.
antibiotics), their use as biocontrol agents is increasingly considered, but only a scarce number of products is available
on the market. Their ability to inhibit the growth of filamentous fungi has been largely documented in vitro and showed
some promising applications for the control of phytopathogens and mycotoxigenic moulds. Unfortunately, there is still a
lack of studies performing in planta or field tests, and most studies are limited to the in vitro characterization of
actinomycetes isolates, hampering the potential development as biocontrol agents.
The main objective of this project is to propose a global approach to evaluate the potential of actinomycetes isolates for
the control of wheat fungal diseases from in vitro testing till in plantaefficacy. Moreover, the identification of active
metabolites will provide useful information about the mechanisms of inhibition, but will also offer the opportunity to
discover new molecules of interest. This project gathers four complementary research teams from UMR Qualisud, UMR
BGPI, and TUB (Germany) to build a pluridisciplinary consortium able to answer the whole problematic. This consortium
is composed of microbiologists, molecular biologists, phytopathologists, biochemists and chemists, all expert in their
domains. This multidisciplinary collaboration will allow to perform competitive and high quality research for the
development of biocontrol solution based on actinomycetes action.