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Bacteriophages and Bacterial Plant Diseases
Buttimer, Colin McAuliffe, Olivia Ross, R. P. Hill, Colin O’Mahony, Jim Coffey, Aidan
Buttimer, Colin
McAuliffe, Olivia
Ross, R. P.
Hill, Colin
O’Mahony, Jim
Coffey, Aidan
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2017-01-20
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Buttimer C, McAuliffe O, Ross RP, Hill C, O’Mahony J and Coffey A (2017) Bacteriophages and Bacterial Plant Diseases. Front. Microbiol. 8:34. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00034
Abstract
Losses in crop yields due to disease need to be reduced in order to meet increasing
global food demands associated with growth in the human population. There is a
well-recognized need to develop new environmentally friendly control strategies to
combat bacterial crop disease. Current control measures involving the use of traditional
chemicals or antibiotics are losing their efficacy due to the natural development of
bacterial resistance to these agents. In addition, there is an increasing awareness that
their use is environmentally unfriendly. Bacteriophages, the viruses of bacteria, have
received increased research interest in recent years as a realistic environmentally friendly
means of controlling bacterial diseases. Their use presents a viable control measure
for a number of destructive bacterial crop diseases, with some phage-based products
already becoming available on the market. Phage biocontrol possesses advantages over
chemical controls in that tailor-made phage cocktails can be adapted to target specific
disease-causing bacteria. Unlike chemical control measures, phage mixtures can be
easily adapted for bacterial resistance which may develop over time. In this review, we
will examine the progress and challenges for phage-based disease biocontrol in food
crops.