ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
This article is part of the Research TopicEndophytic Fungi: From Plant Occupants to Agricultural AlliesView all 3 articles
Evidence of Antibacterial Properties by Endophytic Fungi of Hazelnut (Corylus avellana)
Provisionally accepted
- 1CREA Centro di Ricerca Orticoltura e Florovivaismo, Pontecagnano, Italy
- 2University of Life Sciences of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
- 3Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Center for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Caserta, Italy
- 4Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy
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New control strategies are necessary for the treatment of the bacterial diseases of hazelnut (Corylus avellana) incited by Pseudomonas avellanae and Xanthomonas arboricola pv. corylina, following the programmed phasing out of copper-based anti-cryptogamics. Based on recent evidence gathered on many crops, endophytic fungi are credited for playing a role as defensive mutualists of plants. Thus, an investigation was carried out in the hazelnut growing areas in Southern Italy in the aim to identify endophytic fungi possessing antimicrobial properties against these two pathogens. A panel of 50 endophytic isolates was selected, including species which are already known as being part of the hazelnut mycobiome, along with a few new records. These isolates were tested for antibiosis in an in vitro assay consisting in the inoculation of the two bacterial pathogens in their culture filtrates. Four isolates, belonging to Cladosporium perangustum, Talaromyces purpureogenus, Nemania diffusa and the Hypoxylon fuscum species complex, displayed consistent inhibitory effects, inducing about 90% growth suppression of both bacteria. Their capacity to effectively act as biocontrol agents will be further tested in planta.
Keywords: Antibiosis, Defensive mutualism, hazelnut mycobiome, pathogenic bacteria, phase-out of copper products
Received: 08 Jan 2026; Accepted: 06 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Nicoletti, Zimowska, FERRARA, Becchimanzi and Petriccione. 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: Beata Zimowska
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