Nematicidal activity of teleocidin B4 isolated from Streptomyces sp. against pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

BACKGROUND Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a plant disease that causes serious damage to pine trees. PWD occurs when the host plant is infected with pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. In this study, a compound with nematicidal activity was isolated from actinomycetes and its efficacy was investigated in vitro. RESULT We screened and selected Streptomyces sp. 680560, which had nematicidal activity against B. xylophilus. Based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis, it showed 99.93% similarity with Streptomyces blastmyceticus NRRB‐5480T. Furthermore, the active compound was isolated and identified as teleocidin B4. Teleocidin B4 at concentrations ranging from 6.25 to 100 μM had low nematicidal activity after 24 and 36 h against adult and stage juveniles (J2) of B. xylophilus, but after 48 h nematicidal activity exceeded 95%. The rate of inhibition of egg hatching for Teleocidin B4 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 μM was confirmed to be dose‐dependently inhibited after 48 h of treatment. Teleocidin B4 is not only toxic to hatched B. xylophilus, but also affects egg hatching. CONCLUSION This study was carried out to isolate actinomycete metabolites from pine tree endophytes from various natural environments for control of PWD. A compound with nematicidal activity was isolated from a selected strain and its structure was identified as teleocidin B4. The nematicidal effect of the isolated active substance, teleocidin B4, was confirmed. This is the first report of the effect of teleocidin B4 on B. xylophilus, suggesting its possibility as a PWD control agent. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry We isolated and purified the compound that can control pine wood nematode from pine tree endophytic actinomycetes. Nematicidal activity studied of the compound have suggested the possibility of pine wilt disease control agents. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry