## 3 Results
### Bacterial Competitive Colonization Interaction  
Competitive colonization interaction assays were carried out between _K. cowanii_ Cp1 and _P. aroidearum_ SM2 to evaluate their ability to reduce soft rot symptoms in the fruits of tomato and jalapeno chili (Figure 6). The results show that when both bacterial species were inoculated at the same time (T1) or post-inoculated with _K. cowanii_ Cp1 at 3 (T2) and 6 h (T3), soft rot symptoms were evident at 24 h and severe at 48 h in the fruits of tomato and jalapeno chili. These results are similar to those for the positive control inoculated with _P. aroidearum_ SM2, while for _K. cowanii_ Cp1 (negative control) and the control with 0.1% peptone, soft rot symptoms were not observed. This result indicates that _P. aroidearum_ SM2 probably achieves faster colonization, causing severe tissue maceration, and the presence of _K. cowanii_ Cp1 has no effect on competitive colonization. Therefore, we evaluated whether _K. cowanii_ Cp1 requires more time to achieve competitive colonization. Interestingly, our findings show that when _K. cowanii_ Cp1 was inoculated first and _P. aroidearum_ SM2 was applied after 3 (T4), 6 (T5), or 9 (T6) hours, soft rot symptoms were not observed during the evaluation period in the fruits of tomato and jalapeno chili. Therefore, our results show that _K. cowanii_ Cp1 probably requires time to achieve competitive colonization through the synthesis of a biomolecule with a fast diffusion ability in plant tissue, and with an inhibitory ability to reduce soft rot symptoms caused by _P. aroidearum_ SM2. To prove this hypothesis, we developed different microbiological assays to identify these biomolecules.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Type** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Number**} & **Gene** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{PCDEWs} & Pectinases & 12 & _kgdM, exuT, uuxA, kidgF, ogl, pml, exuR, penA, pelW, pehX, pelT, pelX_ \\ \cline{2-4}  & Cellulases & 0 & \\ \cline{2-4}  & Proteinases & 0 & \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{S Secretion Systems} & T1 SS & 22 & _lapE, tonB, hlyA, tolC, hlyC, hlyB, hlyD, cyaB, cuaD, cyaE, hasE, lapC, prtE/aprE, lapD, prtD/aprD, lapB, lapG, tdf, fdf, fdf, fdf, fdf, prtF/aprF, luth/omp1_ \\ \cline{2-4}  & T2 SS & 22 & _ggpD, ssppE, spspK, ggpM, ggpN, tadB, sgpC, sgpI, tadZ/cpaE, cpaD, fbf/hadC, RcpC/CpaB, ssppE, spgl, sspI, sspR, ggpG, sgpH, tadD, cpaF, rcpA/cpaC, tadV/cpaA_ \\ \cline{2-4}  & T3 SS & 40 & _yscN, mxBi, hroN, escN, hroT, yscR, hroR, escR, hrpDQ, lcrE, spN, yopk4b, yscI, lrcl, escl, pscI, hrpW, yscQ, yscI, yscC, mixD, hrcC, nivG, vscO, hrpB, hrpG, avrE1, hrcT, epaR1, esC, yscS, hrpV, yscI, lcrD, hrcV, esC, ssaV, spON, lcrE, hrpD_ \\ \cline{2-4}  & T4 SS & 19 & _aroB, virB11, virB4, virB4, virB8, virB10, virB6, gilD, virB2, virB5, vir9, virB1, pilC, pilB, ppdD, pilM, pilN, pilP, pilQ_ \\ \cline{2-4}  & T5 SS & 0 & \\ \hline T6 SS & 20 & _pear, hcp, vgF, fssI, hnsS, vnasI, tsS, tssG, fssB, icmtH, fssF, tssE, vnasI, tssH, tssI, tssA, tssK, tssM, tngH, tssC_ \\ \hline Invasion & 16 & _fiiN, fiiA, cheR, fiiM, fhlD, fgC, fIgG, fiiP, fiiS, fglR, fhlC, cheW, cheY, fggB, fliQ_ \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 3: Pathogenicity-related genes of _P. aroidearum_ SM2 identified through gene annotation screening.