• Endophytic biocontrol agents are explored for their use to suppress disease development in various host plants. In our studies, we source for endophytic biocontrol agents, and determine their mechanisms of disease suppression. The endophytes are unfortunately susceptible to soil conditions, such as pH, metal and salinity stress. To address this, we also discover metal-tolerant endophytes with biocontrol properties. We determine the use of these isolates and examined their potential in expressing biocontrol activities and suppressing disease incidence in crops under metal stress. We have also explored the seed biopriming process as a possible approach to deliver biocontrol agents to our crops via seeds. Our results are published as follows:

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2016.12.002

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2012.01.010

  • https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2019.1611735

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2019.02.001

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2018.12.004

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2016.02.002

  • https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-010-0447-y

  • https://doi.org/10.1080/09670870903324198

  • https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-007-9093-1

  • https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1575-2_15

  • https://doi.org/10.14232/abs.2019.2.169-179

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2021.01.006

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2021.104819

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2022.02.002

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2022.105035

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• Another group of beneficial biocontrol agents, are the Actinobacteria. Their cells and metabolites are evaluated for ability to suppress pathogen growth. Refer the link below for more information:

  • https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2015.1007921

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2014.03.004

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2013.06.001

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• The fate of endophytic biocontrol agents upon inoculation to host plants is not well-studied. We wonder about  their interaction with host plants, with the pathogen, their ability to proliferate in the host tissues, and how these may subsequently impact their biocontrol activities. To address these, we conducted several studies to discover the answers and our results are published here:

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2018.10.011

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2018.10.004

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2018.06.010

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jare.2016.10.008

  • http://abs.bibl.u-szeged.hu/index.php/abs/article/view/2908​

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2014.10.003

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• We are also embarking on the study of microbial communities that are able to confer disease suppression. We also pursued metabolomics approach to understand the plant-microbe inetractions. We have published our work as follows:​

  • https://doi.org/10.3390/biology9120424

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2021.104787

  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmpp.2023.101980