Historical advancements in understanding bacteriocins produced by rhizobacteria for their application in agriculture

Abstract

Abiotic stress, such as high temperatures, droughts and soil salinity, as well as biotic stress, such as pythopathogenic bacteria, are causing serious damage to crops and they result in significant economic losses. In addition, excessive application of agrochemicals has deteriorated productive agricultural land, contributed to spreading antimicrobial resistance genes among pathogenic microorganisms and caused damage to human health. Developing alternative strategies to the use of chemicals is an ongoing challenge for achieving a sustainable agriculture. In this context, biological products, including bacteriocins, enhance crop growth and health without harming the environment. Bacteriocins are proteinaceous compounds that exhibit high specificity and kill competitors closely related to the producing bacteria. They are secreted by both Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria, and they have been used to treat bacterial infections in humans and animals, and to preserve food. In recent years, studies that projected the use of bacteriocins in agriculture have increased due to their high biotechnological potential. These bacteriocins have been explored as plant biostimulants or as biocontrol agents, and provide an innovative solution to the problems in agriculture. In particular, tailocins have a great potential as antimicrobials because they are very stable, extremely specific, and efficient as killers; in fact, a single particle is enough to kill a susceptible cell.In this review, we examine the bacteriocins produced by rhizobacteria and their application for a sustainable agriculture, a topic that has not been addressed extensively yet. In addition, we discuss bacteriocin expression in plants and the study of bacteriocins through omics.