BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF VOLATILE SECONDARY METABOLITES PRODUCED BY Burkholderia gladioli pv. agaricicola

Abstract

Numerous species in the genus Burkholderia have interesting properties for potential industrial applications including production of antibiotics, biosurfactants, bioplastics and degradation of environmental contaminants. The aims of this study were to determine the antifungal activity of volatile secondary metabolites produced by four strains of Burkholderia gladioli pv. agaricicola (Bga) against the two phytopathogen-ic fungi Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani and to characterize biochemically the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the most bioactive Bga strain ICMP11096 tested in this study using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The studied strains showed antifungal activity against the tested phytopathogenic fungi through production of volatile bioactive metabolites. The biochemical characteriza-tion of VOCs of Bga ICMP11096 has detected two bioactive volatile compounds. The first one was a liquid hydrocarbon cyclic terpene and was identified as cyclohexene 1-methyl-4-(1-methylethenyl) and commonly considered one of the more frequent d- isomers of limonene. The second one was identified as 4-flavanone (4H-1-Benzopyran-4-one, 2, 3-dihydro-2-phenyl). The two produced VOCs could be the main re-sponsible for the antifungal activity.