Paenibacillus strain, antifungal compounds, and methods for their use

A method of identifying a fungicidal Paenibacillus sp. strain with broad spectrum antifungal activity, the method comprising:

• a) sequencing FusA-A3 in the Paenibacillus sp. strain to characterize a variant fusaricidin synthetase;
• b) assaying the fungicidal activity of the Paenibacillus sp. strain with the variant fusaricidin synthetase;
• c) selecting the fungicidal Paenibacillus sp. strain as having broad spectrum antifungal activity if the Paenibacillus sp. strain comprises the variant fusaricidin synthetase and demonstrates increased fungicidal activity compared to a reference Paenibacillus sp. strain comprising a wild-type fusaricidin synthetase, and
• d) culturing the fungicidal Paenibacillus sp. strain to produce a fungicidal fermentation product,
• wherein the variant fusaricidin synthetase comprises a deletion in FusA-A3 of amino acid residues that correspond to positions Asp254, Ala255, Ser258, Thr297, Leu318, Ala320, Gly341, Ile349 and Cys350 of SEQ ID NO:
• 11 or Asp254, Ala255, Ser258, Thr297, Leu318, Ala320, Ala341, Val349, and Cys350 of SEQ ID NO:
• 9 or Asp254, Ala255, Ser258, Thr297, Leu318, Ala320, Gly341, Val349 and Cys350 of SEQ ID NO:
• 1.