Pathogenic fungi can cause disease in crops and food poisoning, which makes problems in crop production and food safety. Chemically synthesized antifungal agents have been mainly used to control the growth of pathogenic fungi. However, the excessive u...
Pathogenic fungi can cause disease in crops and food poisoning, which makes problems in crop production and food safety. Chemically synthesized antifungal agents have been mainly used to control the growth of pathogenic fungi. However, the excessive use of chemical fungicides may cause fungicide-resistant fungi and negatively affect the environment and human health. For this reason, natural antifungal agents can be used as environmentally friendly antifungal agents that can replace chemical fungicides. Bacillus spp. are well known for antimicrobial peptide-producing bacteria. In this study, Bacillus strains were isolated from Doenjang, a Korean traditional fermented soybean paste to screen for the strains having antifungal activity. Among the Bacillus isolates, one strain showed relatively strong antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum. The isolated strain was identified as Bacillus velezensis and named Bacillus velezensis GHK-5 in this study. Several antifungal peptide synthetic genes in B. velezensis GHK-5 were detected using PCR analysis. Antifungal activity of B. velezensis GHK-5 was characterized under various conditions. B. velezensis GHK-5 cell-free culture supernatant showed antifungal activity on strawberries treated with F. oxysporum by inhibiting the growth of F. oxysporum mycelium. The B. velezensis GHK-5 isolated in this study has the potential to be developed as a natural antifungal agent.