Recent developments in Pseudomonas biocontrol mechanisms

Fluorescent pseudomonads are an effective source of biological control that have high adaptive power and able to produce a wonderful source of secondary metabolites. Antibiotics such as phenazines, diacetylphloroglucinol, and hydrogen cyanide are produced by certain taxonomic groups of the genus Pseudomonas and appear to be ancestral. These compounds often play a physiological role in the producing strain, independent from their antibiotic activity. Other secondary metabolites including rhizoxins, promysalin, L- Furanomycin, insect toxins, and biosurfactants (rhamnolipids and cyclic lipopeptides) are only found in certain Pseudomonas isolates. Recent advances in genome sequencing have led to the discovery of a large number of cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters. Genome mining has led to the discovery of many antimicrobial compounds that have the biocontrol role in the plant-pathogenic fungi, oomycetes and bacteria. In additional, some biocontrol strains of Pseudomonas can produce anti-insect compounds. The ability of Pseudomonas biocontrol agents continues to surprise. This paper tries to investigate the latest results about biocontrol mechanisms of fluorescent pseudomonads.