Isolation and characterization of a novel Burkholderia cepacia with strong antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia solani

Strain CF-66 with strong antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia solani was isolated from compost samples. It is clearly demonstrated that strain CF-66 is belonging to Burkholderia cepacia complex by the morphological and biochemical tests and 16S rDNA sequence. The B. cepacia complex consists of a group of bacteria currently organized into nine genomovars, among them genomovar II and genomovar III, contain the highly epidemic strains. However, it was known that strain CF-66 is not a member of genomovar II or III of the B. cepacia complex by species-specific polymerase chain reaction assay. In this study, the antifungal compound CF66I produced by strain CF-66 was purified and characterized. Based on the nuclear magnetic resonance, GC-MS spectral and infrared spectral data, CF66I was confirmed to have amide bonds, α-metyl fatty acid, bromine, and some structural units such as CH2CH2O. CF66I is stable to high temperature, proteolytic enzymes, and organic solvents. CF66I inhibit the growth of a variety of plant pathogenic fungi and pathogenic yeast, whereas bacterial cells are unaffected. CF66I mainly reduced hyphal extension rates in a dose-dependent manner and induced severe change in cell morphology that resulted in swelled and formed very short hyphae with multiple branches.