Nisin-based therapy: a realistic and eco-friendly biocontrol strategy to contrast subsp. infections .

The lack of sustainable strategies for combating () highlights the pressing need for novel practical antibacterial tools. In this study, subsp. strain ATCC 11454 (), known for its production of nisin A, was tested against subsp. . Preliminary investigations showed that nisin A was involved in a strong antagonistic activity exhibited by against . Thus, the efficacy of nisin A was comprehensively assessed through a combination of and experiments. investigations employing viable-quantitative PCR, spot assay, turbidity reduction assay, fluorescence microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated nisin's robust bactericidal effect on at a minimal lethal concentration of 0.6 mg/mL. Moreover, results from fluorescence and transmission electron microscopies indicated that nisin directly and rapidly interacts with the membranes of cells, leading to the destruction of bacterial cells in few minutes. In tests, nisin also demonstrated the ability to tackle infections within plants that remained asymptomatic 74 days post inoculation. Furthermore, RPLC-ESI-MS/MS analyses showed that nisin translocated to all parts of the plants and remains intact for up to 9 days. For the first time, this study underscores the nisin-based strategy as a realistic and eco-friendly approach to be further investigated against infections in the field.