The need to implement sustainable agricultural models has led to the search for alternatives to deal
with different plant diseases, with the use of biocontrol agents being one of the most versatile options.
A clear example of these agents are the strains belonging to the Bacillus velezensis group, Grampositive
bacteria capable of colonizing the different structures of plants and synthesizing a variety of
compounds with various activities, ranging from growth promotion to antagonism against to different
phytopathogens due to the synthesis of molecules such as lipopeptides (surfactins, fengycins and
iturins) among others.
Previous studies carried out in our research group have shown how the B. velezensis UMAF6639
strain has a great biocontrol capacity in plants belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, derived mainly
from the production of lipopeptides.
The objective of this work focuses on the genetic improvement by random mutagenesis of said strain
to obtain mutants with greater antimicrobial activity. Once the derivatives with the greatest
antimicrobial activity have been identified, their characterization is being carried out to determine the
genetic changes that justify the increase in their biocontrol capacity, as well as the changes in the
production profile of secondary metabolites, implementing genomic and metabolomic tools to
decipher the different mechanisms responsible for the antagonistic activity of these strains.
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