Soils naturally suppressive to banana Fusarium wilt disease harbor unique bacterial communities

Panama disease, also known as Fusarium wilt disease, is caused by the fungal soil pathogen Fusarium oxysporium f.sp. cubense. The pathogen infects the root system, the vascular system, and then the leaves of the banana, rendering fruits unconsumable and eventually causing the whole destruction of the tree. Today people around the world consume Cavendish cultivars since the previous cultivar, Gros Michel, was wiped out by F. oxysprorium to the extent that it was discontinued and replaced by Cavendish. Once the banana is infected by the Fusarium, the damage is devastating since it is a monocrop at the plantation level.  Thus, the disease spreads quickly. Shen et al. studied what types of indigenous soil bacteria (i.e. Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Burkholderia) suppress soil diseases and thus protect susceptible crops from soil pathogens.  From the analyses of the soil bacteria, Pseudomonas accounts for the suppression of Fusarium wilt disease.  Also, Gp5 ( Acidobacteria subgroup) was found in abundant amounts in many disease-suppressive soils.  Shen et al. suggests that the abundance of the two bacteria help suppress soil disease and that further studies and application of these bacteria will help reduce the spread of the Fusarium wilt disease.

Fig. 4 The relative abundance of phyla for conducive soil samples collected from the north site (NC),

suppressive soil samples collected from the north site (NS), conducive soil samples collected from the

south site (SC) and suppressive soil samples collected from the south site (SS). Others indicates

extremely low abundant phyla, including Chlorobi, Elusimicrobia, Spirochaetes, Synergistetes, BRC1,

OD1 and OP11

 

 

 

Shen et al. (2015). Soils naturally suppressive to banana Fusarium wilt disease harbor unique bacterial communities. Plant Soil 393:21-33