ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiotechnology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1626646
This article is part of the Research TopicGreen Biomanufacturing by Industrial Microorganisms: Precise Regulation and System OptimizationView all articles
Antifungal and biodegradable nanoencapsulation of Smallanthus Sonchifolius essential oil for improved stability and sustained release
Provisionally accepted
- College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Phytopathogenic fungi significantly threaten global crop productivity, necessitating eco-friendly alternatives to chemical fungicides. This study developed poly-εcaprolactone (PCL) nanospheres encapsulating Smallanthus sonchifolius tuber essential oil (SsEO) as a sustainable antifungal agent for crop protection. The PCL nanospheres demonstrated exceptional photostability, shielding SsEO from UVinduced degradation, and enabled sustained release, thereby enhancing its stability and efficacy. With an encapsulation efficiency of 98%, the nanospheres exhibited strong antifungal activity against plant pathogens. In vitro, the nanoencapsulated SsEO inhibited Sclerotinia sclerotiorum by 93.6% and Valsa mali by 56.9%, while in vivo inhibition rates reached 94.45% and 92.5%, respectively. The photostability and biodegradability of PCL-SsEO nanospheres extended their antifungal efficacy, offering a sustainable and effective solution for plant pathogen management, reducing reliance on chemical fungicides, and mitigating environmental contamination.
Keywords: Poly-ε-caprolactone, Smallanthus sonchifolius essential oil, Antifungal activity, phytopathogenic fungi, natural fungicide alternatives
Received: 11 May 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Zhang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xun Li, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.