Chahed A. et al (2020)

Abdessalem Chahed, Andrea Nesler, Lorella Navazio, Barbara Baldan, Isabella Busato, Essaid Ait Barka, Ilaria Pertot, Gerardo Puopolo and Michele Perazzolli

INFORMATIVE ABSTRACT - The monosaccharides family hosts rare sugars, which are limited available in terms of quantity in nature and their ecological role still underestimated on its biological functions.
Among them Tagatose rare sugar has some interesting proprieties. Tagatose is used as a low-calorie sweetener and showed beneficial effects on human health, as it inhibits human pathogens and showed prebiotic properties. It can also inhibit the growth of some important crop pathogens which cause severe losses on potato, tomato and eggplant cultivations, but its actions and the microbial responses are still unknown.
To this aim, the study wanted to understand tagatose mode of action against Phytophthora infestans and Phytophtora cinnamomi and get final aim of developing new plant protection products.

P. cinnamomi growth 4 DAI in the absence (Control) and presence of 5 g/L tagatose (Tagatose)

The study confirmed the tagatose inhibition action against P. infestans and demonstrated severe ultrastructural alternations, while it only slightly affected the growth and ultrastructure of P. cinnamomi. Moreover, tagatose decreased energy content and reduced respiration processes in P. infestans with the consequent oxidative stress and gene modulation.
Tagatose seems to be a promising active substance for the further development of eco-friendly fungicides for sustainable plant protection, thanks to its anti-nutritional properties on some phytopathogens and low risk for human health.