Secretion of antifungal metabolites contributes to the antagonistic activity of Talaromyces oaxaquensis

Controlling fusarium wilt is critical to guarantee the supply of bananas. In this study, three strains of the endophyte <i>Talaromyces oaxaquensis</i> obtained from pseudostems of <i>Musa</i> sp. AAB cv. Manzano were found to inhibit the <i>in vitro</i> growth of the banana pathogen <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>cubense</i> M5. Constitutive production and secretion of antifungal factors by <i>T. oaxaquensis</i> is a feature of its inhibition effect, as there was no physical contact between the two fungi. An ethyl acetate extract prepared from supernatants of liquid cultures of the three <i>T. oaxaquensis</i> strains displayed inhibitory activity and hyphal swellings. Both the supernatants and mycelia were subjected to metabolic profiling. Penicillides and macrolide polyesters were detected in the supernatants. A molecular docking approach revealed the binding of the polyester 15G256α to chitin synthase 1 of <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>cubense</i>. This is the first study to report the potential of the endophyte <i>Talaromyces</i> from <i>Musa</i> sp. to generate biological control products to protect plants against phytopathogens.