First method for dissolving zinc thiazole and re-evaluation of its antibacterial properties against rice bacterial blight disease

Rice bacterial blight (BB), caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is one of the most destructive diseases in rice-growing regions worldwide. Zinc thiazole is a novel bactericide and has been applied for BB control for 10 years. However, zinc thiazole is highly insoluble in water and in most organic solvents. In this work, we found for the first time that zinc thiazole can be dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and the solubility of zinc thiazole in DMSO is more than 20 mg/mL. Dissolved zinc thiazole at 25 μg/mL significantly inhibited the growth of Xoo by 58.81%. Interestingly, zinc thiazole at 25 μg/mL enhanced the cell division and altered the cell wall integrity of Xoo. The application of dissolved zinc thiazole at 100 μg/mL reduced the incidence of rice bacterial blight (BB) by providing 64.71% control efficacy, while zinc thiazole as suspension concentrate (SC) at 100 μg/mL only provided 43.42% control efficacy. Taken together, this study provides for the first time a method for dissolving zinc thiazole, and may help to better understand the antibacterial mechanism of zinc thiazole.