Fighting Strawberry Fuzz

The gray mold on this ripe strawberry is the fungus Botrytis cinerea.  The disease is one of the most common and serious to afflict the tiny, delectable fruit, but the fungus also attacks tomatoes, grapes, potatoes, sugarcane and many ornamental flowers.

To fight Botrytis, researchers have begun testing a new agricultural fungicide based on a naturally occurring compound, called sampangine, which was originally meant to treat human fungal infections.  In 1990, the University of Mississippi patented sampangine for clinical use, but the treatment was never released pharmaceutically.

Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service and the University of Mississippi have found that sampangine shows potential as a broad-spectrum, low-toxicity control of fungal plant pathogens.  This could be especially beneficial in battling Botrytis fungal strains now resistant to commonly-used fungicides.

-- LiveScience Staff

Credit: Scott Bauer