A lipophilic cation protects crops against fungal pathogens by multiple modes of action

Gero Steinberg (), Martin Schuster, Sarah J. Gurr, Tina A. Schrader, Michael Schrader, Mark Wood, Andy Early and Sreedhar Kilaru
Additional contact information
Gero Steinberg: University of Exeter
Martin Schuster: University of Exeter
Sarah J. Gurr: University of Exeter
Tina A. Schrader: University of Exeter
Michael Schrader: University of Exeter
Mark Wood: University of Exeter
Andy Early: University of Exeter
Sreedhar Kilaru: University of Exeter

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: Abstract The emerging resistance of crop pathogens to fungicides poses a challenge to food security and compels discovery of new antifungal compounds. Here, we show that mono-alkyl lipophilic cations (MALCs) inhibit oxidative phosphorylation by affecting NADH oxidation in the plant pathogens Zymoseptoria tritici, Ustilago maydis and Magnaporthe oryzae. One of these MALCs, consisting of a dimethylsulfonium moiety and a long alkyl chain (C18-SMe2+), also induces production of reactive oxygen species at the level of respiratory complex I, thus triggering fungal apoptosis. In addition, C18-SMe2+ activates innate plant defense. This multiple activity effectively protects cereals against Septoria tritici blotch and rice blast disease. C18-SMe2+ has low toxicity in Daphnia magna, and is not mutagenic or phytotoxic. Thus, MALCs hold potential as effective and non-toxic crop fungicides.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14949-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-14949-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14949-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().