Molecular and Genomic Characterization of the Pseudomonas syringae Phylogroup 4: An Emerging Pathogen of Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana

Comparative genomic analyses provide insight into the pathogenicity of three Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae strains from Anhui Province, China

BACKGROUND

Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is an important bacterial plant pathogen that causes severe damage to the kiwifruit industry worldwide. Three Psa strains were recently obtained from different kiwifruit orchards in Anhui Province, China. The present study mainly focused on the variations in virulence and genome characteristics of these strains based on the pathogenicity assays and comparative genomic analyses.

RESULTS

Three strains were identified as biovar 3 (Psa3), along with strain QSY6 showing higher virulence than JZY2 and YXH1 in pathogenicity assays. The whole genome assembly revealed that each of the three strains had a circular chromosome and a complete plasmid. The chromosome sizes ranged from 6.5 to 6.6 Mb with a GC content of approximately 58.39 to 58.46%, and a predicted number of protein-coding sequences ranging from 5,884 to 6,019. The three strains clustered tightly with 8 Psa3 reference strains in terms of average nucleotide identity (ANI), whole-genome-based phylogenetic analysis, and pangenome analysis, while they were evolutionarily distinct from other biovars (Psa1 and Psa5). Variations were observed in the repertoire of effectors of the type III secretion system among all 15 strains. Moreover, synteny analysis of the three sequenced strains revealed eight genomic regions containing 308 genes exclusively present in the highly virulent strain QSY6. Further investigation of these genes showed that 16 virulence-related genes highlight several key factors, such as effector delivery systems (type III secretion systems) and adherence (type IV pilus), which might be crucial for the virulence of QSY6.

CONCLUSION

Three Psa strains were identified and showed variant virulence in kiwifruit plant. Complete genome sequences and comparative genomic analyses further provided a theoretical basis for the potential pathogenic factors responsible for kiwifruit bacterial canker.

Isolation of Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tomato strains causing bacterial speck disease of tomato and marker-based monitoring for their virulence

BACKGROUND

The bacterial speck disease of tomato caused by a bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato is a most important disease causing severe crop losses.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Present study was conducted to investigate and characterize the population diversity of P. syringae pv. tomato pathogen isolated from infected tomato plants from various regions of Egypt. Significant variation among the isolates was observed which demonstrated considerable virulence. All isolates were pathogenic and the CFU population recovered from inoculate tomato leaves by isolate Pst-2 was higher than other isolates. Genetic disparity among the isolates was investigated by PCR analysis by amplifying hrpZ gene using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP), and inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers. The amplified products for ITS1 were found to have 810 bp length whereas 536 bp length was observed for hrpZ gene using primer pairs (1406-f/23S-r) and (MM5-F, MM5-R) respectively. The restriction analysis of amplified regions "ITS" and hrpZ by using 5 and 4 endonucleases respectively demonstrated slight variation among the bacterial isolates. The results of RAPD, ISSR and SRAP showed higher polymorphism (60.52%) within the isolates which may assist for successful characterization by unique and specific markers based on geographical distribution, origin and virulence intensity.

CONCLUSION

The results of present study suggested that the use of molecular approach may provide successful and valuable information to differentiate and classify P. syringae pv. tomato strains in future for the detection and confirmation of pathogenicity.