An Indigenous Pseudomonas chlororaphis-like Isolate M6 Is Associated with Reduced Cotton Damping-Off and Partial Redox–Phenylpropanoid Molecular Profiles

Description

Yingming Wei and colleagues evaluate in 2026 a local Pseudomonas bacterium, isolate M6, as protection for cotton seedlings against damping-off disease caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani. Bacteria from cotton root soils were screened in dish tests against the fungus, and the best candidate went into a greenhouse trial. The team also sequenced gene activity and profiled small molecules in healthy, infected, and protected plants.

Isolate M6 blocked the fungus most strongly in screening, with 81.9 percent inhibition. In the greenhouse, protected plants showed disease in 22.2 percent of cases against 88.9 percent in infected controls, with a far lower disease severity score as well. Molecular profiles in protected plants shifted back toward the healthy pattern, especially in pathways tied to oxidation balance and phenylpropanoid defense chemistry. A locally adapted microbe could give cotton growers a biological option against a seedling disease that strikes before plants can be treated.

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Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13467816