Propionate poses antivirulence activity against Botrytis cinerea via regulating its metabolism, infection cushion development and overall pathogenic factors

Authors：Zhu, Chuanxi; Tang, Yan; Ren, Dandan; Ren, Weiheng; Xue, Yongjun; Suthaparan, Aruppillai; Li, Jufen; Wang, Yiwen; Xu, Ling^*; Zhu, Pinkuan^*

Source：Food Chemistry, 2023, 410: 135443.

DOI：10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.135443

• Gray mold
• Infection cushion
• Methylcitrate cycle
• Pathogenicity
• Transcriptome

Botrytis cinerea is a devastating pathogen causing gray mold in fruits and vegetables if not properly managed. Although the mechanisms remain unclear, we previously revealed that the safe food additive calcium propionate (CP) could suppress gray mold development on grapes. The present study reports that sub-lethal dose of CP (0.2 % w/v) could allow growth with substantial reprograming the genome-wide transcripts of B. cinerea. Upon CP treatment, the genes related to fungal methylcitrate cycle (responsible for catabolizing propionate) were upre-gulated. Meanwhile, CP treatment broadly downregulated the transcript levels of the virulence factors. Further comparative analysis of multiple transcriptomes confirmed that the CP treatment largely suppressed the expression of genes related to development and function of infection cushion. Collectively, these findings indi-cate that CP can not only reduce fungal growth, but also abrogate fungal virulence factors. Thus, CP has sig-nificant potential for the control of gray mold in fruit crops.