Pichia anomala strain K was previously identified as an efficient biocontrol agent of the apple pathogen, Botrytis cinerea. Further study demonstrated the complexicity of the mode of action of P. anomala against B. cinerea. A molecular study revealed implication of exo-β-1,3-glucanases in the mode of action of P. anomala but suggested implication of other factors. The present study aims to increase our knowledge of the mode of action of P. anomala strain Kh6 against B. cinerea using an in situ approach allowing interactions between organisms, and the proteomic tool allowing to study the ultime expression of the genome.
One wound per apple were covered by a membrane and inoculated by P. anomala then by B. cinerea or not. Samples were collected at different incubation times to identify the responses of P. anomala to the presence of B. cinerea. After extraction, proteins were separated on 2-D gels. Spots influenced were identified by MALDI-ToF.
In exponential phase, P. anomala Kh6 orientates its energetic metabolism from the glycolysis to the oxidative phosphorylation and sets up the pentose phosphate pathway. Thanks to this new pathway, P. anomala probably obtains energy and nucleic acids allowing to colonize the wound as fast as in absence of B. cinerea. In stationary phase, no differences in the P. anomala energetic metabolism, in absence and in presence of B. cinerea were observed. During that phase, P. anomala seems to use the alcoholic fermentation in order to face the nutrients impoverishment of the substrate
