{
  "abstract": "Microbial biological control agents (mBCAs) offer a promising alternative to conventional disease management, but identifying effective strains requires screening large microbial collections against many pathogens. Here, we developed a scalable screening approach to characterize the antagonistic activity of potato-associated bacteria against multiple pathogens and investigated how bacterial origin and phylogeny relate to antagonistic phenotypes. A collection of 600 bacterial strains isolated from two potato cultivars, three plant compartments using four cultivation media was screened against six major potato pathogens: the bacteria Dickeya solani and Pectobacterium carotovorum, the fungi Alternaria solani and Rhizoctonia solani, and the oomycetes Phytophthora infestans and Pythium ultimum. A scalable confrontation method was developed for non-filamentous bacteria, while complementary lower-throughput assays were used for filamentous strains. This approach enabled successful assessment of 92% of non-filamentous and 97% of filamentous strain-pathogen combinations. Isolation cultivar, plant compartment and cultivation medium had only limited effects on the proportion of antagonistic strains. In contrast, pathogen sensitivity varied markedly: P. infestans was the most susceptible pathogen, whereas D. solani and P. carotovorum were generally resistant to bacterial antagonism. Antagonistic activity clustered phylogenetically, with Bacillus and Streptomyces containing many broad-spectrum inhibitors. In addition, several taxa showed preferential activity against the oomycetes, including P. infestans-specific antagonists from the Pseudomonas genus and P. ultimum-specific antagonists from the Frigoribacterium, Curtobacterium, Pedobacter and Phyllobacterium genera. Overall, multi-pathogen screening revealed distinct generalist and specialist antagonistic profiles and identified candidate strains and taxa for further evaluation as mBCAs.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Fribourg"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "V. Pichon"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Gillon"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. Ruffieux"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Luethi"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. Morales Undurraga"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. De Vrieze"
    },
    {
      "name": "F. L'Haridon"
    },
    {
      "name": "O. Abdelrahman"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "L. Weisskopf"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fjb4qg9n3n533.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.22.753498",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753498v1.full",
  "id": "fjb4qg9n3n533",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753498v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "microbiology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1110|Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214145558",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753498v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-22",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fjb4qg9n3n533.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:24:10Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.22.753498",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753498v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:microbiology",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A scalable screening approach reveals phylogenetic patterns of bacterial antagonism against potato pathogens",
  "title_text": "A scalable screening approach reveals phylogenetic patterns of bacterial antagonism against potato pathogens",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:24:10Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fjb4qg9n3n533",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}