ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
This article is part of the Research TopicEndophytes as Biocontrol AgentsView all 8 articles
3-Mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA) as a potential biocontrol factor contributes to plant protection efficacy of Pseudomonas protegens CHA0
Provisionally accepted
- National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba, Japan
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Pseudomonas protegens CHA0 and other fluorescent pseudomonads suppress plant diseases by producing a number of metabolites with antibiotic activities in the rhizosphere. However, limited information is available on the physiological functions of most of these metabolites. We herein describe the detection of 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA), a thiol compound, based on the metabolome of the supernatant of strain CHA0. 3-MPA exhibited antibiotic activity against oomycete and fungal pathogens and suppressed Pythium damping-off and root rot in cucumber. 3-MPA also exhibited antibiotic activity without direct contact with pathogens, indicating the volatilization effect of this compound. We identified a homologous gene encoding the enzyme 3-MPA dioxygenase in the CHA0 genome and the production level of 3-MPA was elevated in a 3mdo-negative mutant. Growth inhibitory activity against oomycete and fungal pathogens and plant protection efficacy exhibited by the 3mdo-negative mutant were stronger than those of wild-type CHA0. These results suggest that 3-MPA is an important biocontrol factor of strain CHA0.
Keywords: Antimicrobial metabolites, Disease control, Pseudomonads, rhizosphere, volatileorganic compounds
Received: 16 Oct 2025; Accepted: 05 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Kara, Seo and Takeuchi. 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: Kasumi Takeuchi
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