A note on Pseudomonas syringae pv. berberidis infections of Berberis: aetiology of a leaf spot and leaf fall disease in England

R oberts , S.J. & P reece , T.F. 1984. A note on Pseudomonas syringae pv. berberidis infections of Berberis : aetiology of a leaf spot and leaf fall disease in England. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 56 , 507–513.
A leaf spot and leaf fall disease is currently causing problems among certain Berberis spp. in England. Evergreens affected include B. julianae, B. gagnepainii, B. candidula, B. hookeri , and deciduous spp. include B. x ottawensis and B. thunbergii . The pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae pv. berberidis , which was confirmed as a distinct pathover by biochemical and host tests, was isolated from less than half of leaves showing typical symptoms. Isolates of Ps. syringae pv. berberidis from England, New Zealand and USA differed in cultural characteristics and in patho-genicity to certain Berberis spp.     

Contributions of the effector gene hopQ1-1 to differences in host range between Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola and P. syringae pv. tabaci

To study the role of type III-secreted effectors in the host adaptation of the tobacco ( Nicotiana sp.) pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci , a selection of seven strains was first characterized by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to determine their phylogenetic affinity. MLST revealed that all strains represented a tight phylogenetic group and that the most closely related strain with a completely sequenced genome was the bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) pathogen P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A. Using primers designed to 21 P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A effector genes, it was determined that P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A shared at least 10 effectors with all tested P. syringae pv. tabaci strains. Six of the 11 effectors that failed to amplify from P. syringae pv. tabaci strains were individually expressed in one P. syringae pv. tabaci strain. Although five effectors had no effect on phenotype, growth in planta and disease severity of the transgenic P. syringae pv. tabaci expressing hopQ1-1 _Pph1448A were significantly increased in bean, but reduced in tobacco. We conclude that hopQ1-1 has been retained in P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A, as this effector suppresses immunity in bean, whereas hopQ1-1 is missing from P. syringae pv. tabaci strains because it triggers defences in Nicotiana spp. This provides evidence that fine-tuning effector repertoires during host adaptation lead to a concomitant reduction in virulence in non-host species.     

Pseudomonas syringae pv. coriandricola, Incitant of Bacterial Umbel Blight and Seed Decay of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) in Germany

Since 1987 a devastating disease has occurred in coriander in Germany, characterized by dark-brown discoloration of blossoms and umbels. water-soaked and brown spots on leaves and stems, seed decay and willing. Infected tissue always contained large quantities of Gramnegative, rod-shaped, motile bacteria with few polar flagella. Tests for LOPAT reactions showed the bacteria to be positive for levan-production and tobacco hypersensitivity reaction but negative for oxidase reaction, rot of potato slices and arginine dihydrolase. The bacteria failed to produce fluorescent pigment on King's medium B but revealed a blue fluorescence after growing in a liquid medium without Fe, According to further standard nutritional, biochemical and physiological tests the coriander pathogen belongs to Pseudomonas group la. i.e. Pseudomonas syringae . Also, the fatty acid composition revealed a very close similarity to Pseuodomonas syringae . On Biolog plates the coriander strains showed a uniform metabolic pattern and could clearly be distinguished from other Pseudomonas syringae pathovars.
Typical hosts of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae were not infected by the coriander pathogen. Also, most tested umbelliferae species reacted resistant towards the pathogen. Typical disease symptoms, such as persistent water-soaked lesions, were incited only a Coriandrum saticum Animi majus and Levisticum offieinale . The studies revealed that the pathogen described is a separate pathovar of Pseudomonas syringae not included in the approved list of P. syringae pathovars. The name Pseudomonas syringae pv. coriandricola is proposed. Strain GSPB 1965 has been deposited in the NCPPB as pathotype strain (no. 3781).     

Protein and enzymatic criteria for the characterization of phytopathogenic Pseudomonas fluorescens

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of proteins was carried out to characterize eight bacterial strains belonging to the genus Pseudomonas. The sampling included three species (P. cichorii, P. viridiflava and P. syringae), with three pathovars for this last species (pv. pisi, pv. syringae, pv. tomato). Several molecular markers were evaluated: native proteins, denatured proteins, esterases, superoxide dismutases (SOD) and polyphenoloxidases (PPO). Each species or pathovar of Pseudomonas was clearly differentiated by esterase patterns. SOD, PPO and native protein patterns allowed strains of P. cichorii, P. viridiflava and P.s. pv. tomato also to be distinguished. Strains of P.s. pv. pisi and P.s. pv. syringae were identical for these criteria. Denatured protein patterns of these two pathovars and P. viridiflava were similar.     

Identification and relatedness of coronatine-producing Pseudomonas syringae pathovars by PCR analysis and sequence determination of the amplification products.

Production of the chlorosis-inducing phytotoxin coronatine in the Pseudomonas syringae pathovars atropurpurea, glycinea, maculicola, morsprunorum, and tomato has been previously reported. DNA hybridization studies previously indicated that the coronatine biosynthetic gene cluster is highly conserved among P. syringae strains which produce the toxin. In the present study, two 17-bp oligonucleotide primers derived from the coronatine biosynthetic gene cluster of P. syringae pv. glycinea PG4180 were investigated for their ability to detect coronatine-producing P. syringae strains by PCR analysis. The primer set amplified diagnostic 0.65-kb PCR products from genomic DNAs of five different coronatine-producing pathovars of P. syringae. The 0.65-kb products were not detected when PCR experiments utilized nucleic acids of nonproducers of coronatine or those of bacteria not previously investigated for coronatine production. When the 0.65-kb PCR products were digested with ClaI, PstI, and SmaI, fragments of identical size were obtained for the five different pathovars of P. syringae. A restriction fragment length polymorphism was detected in the amplified region of P. syringae pv. atropurpurea, since this pathovar lacked a conserved PvuI site which was detected in the PCR products of the other four pathovars. The 0.65-kb PCR products from six strains comprising five different pathovars of P. syringae were cloned and sequenced. The PCR products from two different P. syringae pv. glycinea strains contained identical DNA sequences, and these showed relatedness to the sequence obtained for the pathovar morsprunorum. The PCR products obtained from the pathovars maculicola and tomato were the most similar to each other, which supports the hypothesis that these two pathovars are closely related.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A novel approach for the identification of bacterial taxa-specific molecular markers

AIMS: To develop and establish a methodology for an oriented and fast identification of species taxa-specific molecular markers useful for the identification of micro-organisms. METHODS AND RESULTS: From the complete microbial genomes available in Pfam database, taxa-specific protein domains were identified which lead to the selection of taxa-specific loci. This strategy was used to identify six genetic markers: four specific for Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, one specific for P. syringae pv. syringae and one specific for P. putida. The discriminatory potential of these loci was evaluated by Southern hybridization using several pseudomonad species and pathovars, by dot-blot hybridization and by multiplex PCR optimized for the simultaneous detection of P. putida, P. syringae pv. syringae and P. syringae pv. tomato. Sensitivity assays indicated a detection limit of approximately 10 pg of chromosomal DNA template needed for each bacterium. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed methodology was efficient on the selection of six Pseudomonas-specific markers able to discriminate Pseudomonas at the species and pathovar level. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The oriented search of taxa-specific molecular probes described in this work, which can be easily extended to other groups of bacteria, will improve the accuracy and expedite the identification of micro-organisms by DNA-based molecular methods.     

The specificity of an immune serum to the exocellular lipopolysaccharide of Pseudomonas wieringae

The serum obtained to exocellular lipopolysaccharide (ELPS) of Pseudomonas wieringae selectively agglutinated strains of pathovar of P. syringae and did not agglutinated strains of P. cichorii, P. solanacearum, P. gladioli pv. allicola, P. fluoroviolaceus, strains of nonphytopathogenic pseudomonads as well as bacteria of the genera Erwinia, Bacillus, Xanthomonas, Klebsiella. Consequently, the antigen determinant common with antigen of the species Pseudomonas syringae is present in the composition of ELPS.     

Comparative analysis of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae and pv. phaseolicola based on phaseolotoxin-resistant ornithine carbamoyltransferase gene (argK) and 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer sequences.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola, which causes halo blight on various legumes, and pv. actinidiae, responsible for canker or leaf spot on actinidia plants, are known as phaseolotoxin producers, and the former possesses phaseolotoxin-resistant ornithine carbamoyltransferase (ROCT) which confers resistance to the toxin. We confirmed that the latter is also resistant to phaseolotoxin and possesses ROCT, and we compared the two pathovars by using sequence data of the ROCT gene and the intergenic spacer region located between the 16S and 23S rRNA genes (16S-23S spacer region) as an index. It was found that the identical ROCT gene (argK) is contained not only in bean isolates of P. syringae pv. phaseolicola in Mexico and the United States but also in bean isolates in Japan and Canada, and that it is also distributed in the kudzu (Pueraria lobata) isolates of P. syringae pv. phaseolicola. Moreover, the kiwifruit and tara vine isolates of P. syringae pv. actinidiae were also found to possess the identical argK. On the contrary, the 16S-23S spacer regions showed a significant level of sequence variation between P. syringae pv. actinidiae and pv. phaseolicola, suggesting that these two pathovars evolved differently from each other in the phylogenetic development. The fact that even synonymous substitution has not occurred in argK among these strains despite their extreme differences in phylogenetic evolution and geographical distribution suggests that it was only recently in evolutionary time that argK was transferred from its origin to P. syringae pv. actinidiae and/or pv. phaseolicola.     

Characterization of Pseudomonas pathovars isolated from rosaceous fruit trees in East Algeria

A survey of bacterial diseases due to Pseudomonas on rosaceous fruit trees was conducted. In forty two orchards located in the Constantine region ( East Algeria). Pseudomonas isolates were identified on the bases of their cultural and biochemical characteristics . A total of fifty nine phytopathogenic bacteria were isolated from diseased pome and stone fruit trees. Thirty one strains comparable to Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae were isolated from cherry (Prunus avium L.), plum (P. domestica L.), apricot (P. armeniaca L.), almond (P. dulcis L.) and pear trees (Pirus communis L.); sixteen strains comparable to Pseudomonas syringae pv. morsprunorum were obtained from samples of cherry and plum. Twelve strains of Pseudomonas viridiflava were isolated from cherry, apricot and peach (Prunus persica L.).     

Pathovar-specific requirement for the Pseudomonas syringae lemA gene in disease lesion formation.

The lemA gene is conserved among strains and pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae. In P. syringae pv. syringae B728a, a causal agent of bacterial brown spot disese of bean, the lemA gene is required for lesion formation on leaves and pods. Using lemA-containing DNA as a probe, we determined that 80 P. syringae pv. syringae strains isolated from bean leaves could be grouped into seven classes based on restriction fragment length polymorphism. Marker exchange mutagenesis showed that the lemA gene was required for lesion formation by representative strains from each restriction fragment length polymorphism class. Hybridization to the lemA locus was detected within six different P. syringae pathovars and within Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Interestingly, a lemA homolog was present and functional within the nonpathogenic strain P. syringae Cit7. We cloned a lemA homolog from a genomic library of P. syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121, a causal agent of halo blight of bean, that restored lesion formation to a P. syringae pv. syringae lemA mutant. However, a lemA mutant P. syringae pv. phaseolicola strain retained the ability to produce halo blight disease symptoms on bean plants. Therefore, the lemA gene played an essential role in disease lesion formation by P. syringae pv. syringae isolates, but was not required for pathogenicity of a P. syringae pv. phaseolicola strain.     

Occurrence of Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tomato race 1 in Italy on Pto Gene-Bearing Tomato Plants

Bacterial speck symptoms on leaves of the tomato cultivar Erminia Fl (Petoseed), heterozygous for the Pto resistant gene, were observed in June 1995 in Northern Italy. Using individual-lesion isolation, 8 bacterial isolates were obtained from the affected leaves, which were identified as Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato by biochemical, physiological, nutritional and pathogenicity tests. When the differential cultivar Ontario 7710, homozygous for the Pto gene, was inoculated with the bacterial isolates, 4 of them provoked the typical bacterial speck symptoms and therefore belonged to race 1. This is the first occurrence of P. syringae pv. tomato race 1 in Italy and the first time this race has been isolated on a Pto gene-bearing tomato cultivar grown in open field.     

A bacterial leaf spot of Protea cynaroides (king protea)

The etiology of a new leaf spot disease on king protea was investigated. The causal organism was a Gram negative rod-shaped bacterium with between two and seven flagella. On the basis of cultural, biochemical and physiological characters it was identified as a pathovar of Pseudomonas syringae.     

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 uses constitutive and apoplast-induced nutrient assimilation pathways to catabolize nutrients that are abundant in the tomato apoplast

The plant apoplast is the intercellular space that surrounds plant cells, in which metabolic and physiological processes relating to cell wall biosynthesis, nutrient transport, and stress responses occur. The apoplast is also the primary site of infection for hemibiotrophic pathogens such as P. syringae, which obtain nutrients directly from apoplastic fluid. We have used apoplastic fluid extracted from healthy tomato leaves as a growth medium for Pseudomonas spp. in order to investigate the role of apoplastic nutrients in plant colonization by Pseudomonas syringae. We have confirmed that apoplast extracts mimic some of the environmental and nutritional conditions that bacteria encounter during apoplast colonization by demonstrating that expression of the plant-induced type III protein secretion pathway is upregulated during bacterial growth in apoplast extracts. We used a modified phenoarray technique to show that apoplast-adapted P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 expresses nutrient utilization pathways that allow it to use sugars, organic acids, and amino acids that are highly abundant in the tomato apoplast. Comparative analyses of the nutrient utilization profiles of the genome-sequenced strains P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000, P. syringae pv. syringae B728a, P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A, and the unsequenced strain P. syringae pv. tabaci 11528 with nine other genome-sequenced strains of Pseudomonas provide further evidence that P. syringae strains are adapted to use nutrients that are abundant in the leaf apoplast. Interestingly, P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A lacks many of the nutrient utilization abilities that are present in three other P. syringae strains tested, which can be directly linked to differences in the P. syringae pv. phaseolicola 1448A genome.     

Angular Leaf Spot of Iron Wood Incited by a Pathovar of Pseudomonas syringae

A fluorescent pseudomonad inciting brown angular leaf spots on iron wood (Parotia persica) in Mazandaran forest was isolated and identified as a pathovar of Pseudomonas syringae. Strains assimilated adonitol and L-tartrate but not lactate or D-tartrate as carbon sources for growth. The electrophoretic profiles of cell proteins of strains isolated from iron wood were very similar but differred markedly from protein profile of P. syringae pv. syringae.     

Misidentification of Pseudomonas strain NCPPB 1498 (ATCC 19875) and proposal for a rejection of the name Pseudomonas syringae pv. panici (Elliott 1923) Young et al. 1978

Pseudomonas syringae pv. panici should be considered invalid because the pathovar epithet panici refers to a xanthomonad. Pseudomonas strain NCPPB 1498 (ATCC 19875) should be listed as an unknown strain belonging to the Ps. syringae group of organisms.     

A plant growth-promoting pseudomonad is closely related to the Pseudomonas syringae complex of plant pathogens

Pseudomonas putida GR12-2 is well known as a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium; however, phylogenetic analysis using the 16S rRNA gene and four housekeeping genes indicated that this strain forms a monophyletic group with the Pseudomonas syringae complex, which is composed of several species of plant pathogens. On the basis of these sequence analyses, we suggest that P. putida GR12-2 be redesignated as P. syringae GR12-2. To compare the ecological roles of P. syringae GR12-2 with its close relatives P. syringae pathovar (pv.) tomato DC3000 and P. syringae pv. syringae B728a, we investigated their ability to cause disease and promote plant growth. When introduced on tobacco or tomato leaves, P. syringae GR12-2 was unable to elicit a hypersensitive response or cause disease, which are characteristic responses of P. syringae DC3000 and B728a, nor were type III secretion system genes required for virulence detected in P. syringae GR12-2 by PCR or DNA hybridization. In contrast to P. syringae GR12-2, neither of the phytopathogens was able to promote root growth when inoculated onto canola seeds. Although commensals and nonpathogens have been reported among the strains of the P. syringae complex, P. syringae GR12-2 is a mutualist and a phytostimulator.     

Production of monoclonal antibodies to Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola and Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli

The production of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (sodium salt) soluble antigens of Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola and Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli (fuscans strain) is described. MAbs A6-1 and A6-2 produced to Ps. syringae pv. phaseolicola are pathovar specific. Although MAb XP2 produced to X. campestris pv. phaseoli recognized surface antigens of all strains of this pathovar (including fuscans strains) it cross-reacted specifically with X. campestris pv. malvacearum; it did not react with any other known bacteria or unidentified epiphytes from navy bean seed or leaves. The isotype of both MAbs XP2 and A6-1 is IgG3 whereas that of MAb A6-2 is IgG2a. The reactive antigens are thermostable, but their chemical nature has not been determined.     

Sequence diversity of rulA among natural isolates of Pseudomonas syringae and effect on function of rulAB-mediated UV radiation tolerance

The rulAB locus confers tolerance to UV radiation and is borne on plasmids of the pPT23A family in Pseudomonas syringae. We sequenced 14 rulA alleles from P. syringae strains representing seven pathovars and found sequence differences of 1 to 12% within pathovar syringae, and up to 15% differences between pathovars. Since the sequence variation within rulA was similar to that of P. syringae chromosomal alleles, we hypothesized that rulAB has evolved over a long time period in P. syringae. A phylogenetic analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences of rulA resulted in seven clusters. Strains from the same plant host grouped together in three cases; however, strains from different pathovars grouped together in two cases. In particular, the rulA alleles from P. syringae pv. lachrymans and P. syringae pv. pisi were grouped but were clearly distinct from the other sequenced alleles, suggesting the possibility of a recent interpathovar transfer. We constructed chimeric rulAB expression clones and found that the observed sequence differences resulted in significant differences in UV (wavelength) radiation sensitivity. Our results suggest that specific amino acid changes in RulA could alter UV radiation tolerance and the competitiveness of the P. syringae host in the phyllosphere.     

Housekeeping gene sequencing and multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis to identify subpopulations within Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato that correlate with host specificity

Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola causes bacterial spot on Brassicaceae worldwide, and for the last 10 years severe outbreaks have been reported in the Loire Valley, France. P. syringae pv. maculicola resembles P. syringae pv. tomato in that it is also pathogenic for tomato and causes the same types of symptoms. We used a collection of 106 strains of P. syringae to characterize the relationships between P. syringae pv. maculicola and related pathovars, paying special attention to P. syringae pv. tomato. Phylogenetic analysis of gyrB and rpoD gene sequences showed that P. syringae pv. maculicola, which causes diseases in Brassicaceae, forms six genetic lineages within genomospecies 3 of P. syringae strains as defined by L. Gardan et al. (Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 49[Pt 2]:469-478, 1999), whereas P. syringae pv. tomato forms two distinct genetic lineages. A multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) conducted with eight minisatellite loci confirmed the genetic structure obtained with rpoD and gyrB sequence analyses. These results provide promising tools for fine-scale epidemiological studies on diseases caused by P. syringae pv. maculicola and P. syringae pv. tomato. The two pathovars had distinct host ranges; only P. syringae pv. maculicola strains were pathogenic for Brassicaceae. A subpopulation of P. syringae pv. maculicola strains that are pathogenic for Pto-expressing tomato plants were shown to lack avrPto1 and avrPtoB or to contain a disrupted avrPtoB homolog. Taking phylogenetic and pathological features into account, our data suggest that the DC3000 strain belongs to P. syringae pv. maculicola. This study shows that P. syringae pv. maculicola and P. syringae pv. tomato appear multiclonal, as they did not diverge from a single common ancestral group within the ancestral P. syringae genomospecies 3, and suggests that pathovar specificity within P. syringae may be due to independent genetic events.     

Acyl-homoserine lactone production is more common among plant-associated Pseudomonas spp. than among soilborne Pseudomonas spp

A total of 137 soilborne and plant-associated bacterial strains belonging to different Pseudomonas species were tested for their ability to synthesize N-acyl-homoserine lactones (NAHL). Fifty-four strains synthesized NAHL. Interestingly, NAHL production appears to be more common among plant-associated than among soilborne Pseudomonas spp. Indeed, 40% of the analyzed Pseudomonas syringae strains produced NAHL which were identified most often as the short-chain NAHL, N-hexanoyl-L-homoserine lactone, N-(3-oxo-hexanoyl)-homoserine lactone, and N-(3-oxo-octanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (no absolute correlation between genomospecies of P. syringae and their ability to produce NAHL could be found). Six strains of fluorescent pseudomonads, belonging to the species P. chlororaphis, P. fluorescens, and P. putida, isolated from the plant rhizosphere produced different types of NAHL. In contrast, none of the strains isolated from soil samples were shown to produce NAHL. The gene encoding the NAHL synthase in P. syringae pv. maculicola was isolated by complementation of an NAHL-deficient Chromobacterium mutant. Sequence analysis revealed the existence of a luxI homologue that we named psmI. This gene is sufficient to confer NAHL synthesis upon its bacterial host and has strong homology to psyI and ahlI, two genes involved in NAHL production in P. syringae pv. tabaci and P. syringae pv. syringae, respectively. We identified another open reading frame that we termed psmR, transcribed convergently in relation to psmI and partly overlapping psmI; this gene encodes a putative LuxR regulatory protein. This gene organization, with luxI and luxR homologues facing each other and overlapping, has been found so far only in the enteric bacteria Erwinia and Pantoea and in the related species P. syringae pv. tabaci.