Antifungal Activities and Components of VOCs Produced by Bacillus subtilis G8

Bacillus subtilis G8, isolated from soil in China, produced antifungal volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Bioassay in sealed dishes revealed that these volatiles significantly inhibited the mycelial growth and completely prevented the pigment production of all tested soil-borne plant pathogens (43-93% inhibition, respectively) and effectively controlled the overwintered sclerotoid germination of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Such effective antifungal VOCs were extracted using Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) and given further identification by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. The detected volatile compounds included alkyls, alcohols, esters, ketones, acid, amine, oxime, phenols and heterocyclic compounds. Present results demonstrate that soil bacteria are rich resources of bioactive volatiles and may play an important role in reducing disease levels.