Partial Characterization of Bacteriophages from Indonesia and its Potency as Biocontrol of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae

Abstract

Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) is a disease caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) of rice in rice-producing countries including Indonesia and attack rice in all stages of growth. In the advanced, crop production will be decreased by up to 50– 70%. Recently, the practical efforts to overcome the problem by using resistant varieties, antibiotics, and sanitation; however, the ability of the pathogen to forms the new virulent pathotypes is noteworthy. Alternatively, the pathogen could be environmental-friendly controlled by utilizing bacteriophages as biological control agents because of their specific characteristics to their bacterial hosts. This research aimed to obtain information about the characteristic of the first isolated bacteriophages from Indonesia. The result showed that two bacteriophages had been isolated from soil in Arjasa Jember and soil in Gadingan Situbondo, namely phage XooX1IDN and phage XooX2IDN, respectively. The two phages were inactivated at 80ºC and stable at pH within the range of 6 to 8. The phage XooX1IDN has a genome size of approximately 39 kb, while phage XooX2IDN had a genome size 38 kb. Morphologically, both phages possessed the family of Myoviridae. Phage biocontrol in vitro assay showed that both phages significantly reduced the growth of BLB pathogen, indicating that both phages potentially, as biological control agents for BLB disease in rice. © 2021 Friends Science Publishers