Antimicrobial Activities and Antioxidant Properties of Bacillus Mojavensis I4 Lipopeptides and Application in the Biocontrol of Potato Dry Rots Caused by Fusarium Solani

Abstract Lipopeptides are diverse metabolites produced by various bacterial and fungal genera known for their antimicrobial and surfactant activities with diverse environmental, pharmaceutical application and also agronomic applications as biocontrol agents. In this study, the presence of NRPS genes in Bacillus mojavensis I4 was confirmed by PCR and this bacterial strain could produce diverse lipopeptides which belonged to fengycin, and surfactin families. The antioxidant activity of I4 biosurfactants was determined through four different in vitro assays. Furthermore, antimicrobial activity assays indicated that I4 lipopeptides exhibited marked inhibitory activity against several bacterial and fungal strains. The I4 lipopeptides were effective in the biocontrol of Fusarium solani that causes potato dry rot disease. Preventive treatment decreased the fungi penetration by almost 80 % after 15 days. This finding suggested promising application of I4 lipopeptides in potato tuber storage.