The genetic characterization of Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis,the causal agent of walnut blight in Poland

Leaves and fruits of walnut trees exhibiting symptoms of bacterial blight were collected from six locations in Poland. Isolations on agar media resulted in 18 bacterial isolates with colony morphology resembling that of the Xanthomonas genus. PCR using X1 and X2 primers specific for Xanthomonas confirmed that all isolates belonged to this genus. In pathogenicity tests on unripe walnut fruits, all isolates caused typical black necrotic lesions covering almost the entire pericarp. Results of selected phenotypic tests indicated that characteristics of all isolates were the same as described for the type strain of Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis. Genetic analyses (PCR MP, ERIC‐, BOX‐PCR and MLSA) showed similarities between the studied isolates and the reference strain of X. arboricola pv. juglandis CFBP 7179 originating from France. However, reference strains I‐391 from Portugal and LMG 746 from the UK were different. MLSA analysis of partial sequences of the fyuA, gyrB and rpoD genes of studied isolates and respective sequences from GenBank of pathotype strains of other pathovars of X. arboricola showed that the X. arboricola pv. juglandis isolates consisted of different phylogenetic lineages. An incongruence among MLSA gene phylogenies and traces of intergenic recombination events were proved. These data suggest that the sequence analysis of several housekeeping genes is necessary for proper identification of X. arboricola pathovars.     

Effect of weather conditions on local spread and infection by pea bacterial blight (Pseudomonas syringae pv. pisi)

The effect of weather conditions on simultaneous local (plant to plant) spread and infection of peas (Pisum sativum) with bacterial blight (Pseudomonas syringae pv. pisi) was investigated by exposing susceptible bait plants for 24 h periods in infected field plots. Following exposure, bait plants were maintained in a glasshouse. Disease symptoms were recorded on 55 out of a total of 105 days on which plants were exposed. Nearly all of these infection events (53) were associated with the occurrence of rain. A series of Generalised Linear Models was fitted to the data to examine the relationships of the mean number of lesions (m) or the proportion of bait plants infected (p) to various weather variables and disease levels in the plots. Rainfall rate and wind run were the most important explanatory variables for the mean number of lesions followed by maximum temperature, rainfall duration, rainfall in the previous week and disease incidence in the surrounding crop. However, rainfall duration and disease incidence were the most important for the proportion of bait plants infected, followed by wind run. A four variable model relating the mean number of lesions to the rainfall rate, wind run, maximum temperature and either rainfall the previous week or disease incidence in the surrounding crop was considered to be the most useful for use in simulation studies.     

水稻条斑病菌hrpB1基因决定寄主致病性和非寄主过敏反应的功能研究

水稻条斑病菌(Xanthomonas oryzaepv.oryzicola,Xoc)的hrp基因决定了病原菌在非寄主植物上的过敏反应(hypersensitive response,HR)和在寄主植物上的致病性(pathogenicity),基因产物形成Ⅲ型分泌系统(type-Ⅲ secretion system,T3SS)将致病性效应分子注入寄主细胞从而引起水稻产生抗病性或者感病性反应。以位于hrpB操纵单元的首个hr-pB1基因为对象,通过基因敲除方式对其进行了突变,发现hrpB1突变体丧失了在水稻上的致病性和在烟草上激发HR的能力,并且在水稻组织中的生长能力显著降低。RT-PCR测定结果表明,hrpB1的转录表达受HrpG和HrpX的正调控。免疫杂交结果显示,HrpB1蛋白可通过T3SS进行分泌。这些结果不仅明确了hrpB1基因在病原菌致病性中的功能,而且提示了hrp结构基因不仅仅局限于形成Ⅲ型分泌系统,部分hrp基因产物本身也通过Ⅲ型系统分泌到胞外,并且可能起到效应分子的功能。