Antifungal activity of an artificial peptide aptamer SNP-D4 against Fusarium oxysporum

Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (FOC4) is a pathogen of banana fusarium wilt, which is a serious problem that has plagued the tropical banana industry for many years. The pathogenic mechanism is complex and unclear, so the prevention and control in agricultural production applications is ineffective. SNP-D4, an artificial peptide aptamer, was identified and specifically inhibited FOC4. To evaluate the efficacy of SNP-D4, FoC4 spores were treated with purified SNP-D4 to calculate the germination and fungicide rates. Damage of FOC4 spores was observed by staining with propidium iodide (PI). Eight proteins of FOC4 were identified to have high affinity for SNP-D4 by a pull-down method combined with Q-Exactive mass spectrometry. Of these eight proteins, A0A5C6SPC6, the aldehyde dehydrogenase of FOC4, was selected as an example to scrutinize the interaction sites with SNP-D4. Molecular docking revealed that Thr66 on the peptide loop of SNP-D4 bound with Tyr437 near the catalytic center of A0A5C6SPC6. Subsequently 42 spore proteins which exhibited associations with the eight proteins were retrieved for protein-protein interaction analysis, demonstrating that SNP-D4 interfered with pathways including ‘translation’, ‘folding, sorting and degradation’, ‘transcription’, ‘signal transduction’ and ‘cell growth and death’, eventually causing the inhibition of growth of FOC4. This study not only investigated the possible pathogenic mechanism of FOC4, but also provided a potential antifungal agent SNP-D4 for use in the control of banana wilt disease.