A New Pathovar, Pseudomonas Syringae Pv. Alisalensis Pv
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e-Xtra* A New Pathovar, Pseudomonas syringae pv. alisalensis pv. nov., Proposed for the Causal Agent of Bacterial Blight of Broccoli and Broccoli Raab N. A. Cintas, USDA, ARS, PWA, 1636 E. Alisal Ave., Salinas, CA 93905; S. T. Koike, University of California, Cooperative Extension, Salinas 93905; and C. T. Bull, USDA, ARS, PWA, 1636 E. Alisal Ave., Salinas, CA 93905 year. The second crucifer crop can become ABSTRACT infected when planted in residue of a pre- Cintas, N. A., Koike, S. T., and Bull, C. T. 2002. A new pathovar, Pseudomonas syringae pv. vious crop that had one of the bacterial alisalensis pv. nov., proposed for the causal agent of bacterial blight of broccoli and broccoli blights. The broccoli raab bacterial blight raab. Plant Dis 86:992-998. pathogen caused disease in a second plant- ing of broccoli raab up to 4 months after The etiology of three foliar bacterial diseases of crucifers and the relationships between their incorporating the initial infected crop (7). causal agents were evaluated. Data from LOPAT, carbon utilization tests, and fatty acid analysis Because the pathogens of broccoli, broc- indicated that bacterial blights of broccoli and broccoli raab, and leaf spot of broccolini, were coli raab, and broccolini have not been caused by strains of Pseudomonas syringae. Data from phage sensitivity, ice nucleation, single carbon source utilization, Polymerase chain reaction using BOXA1R primer (BOX-PCR), and completely characterized, it is not known if host range analyses were identical for the pathogen causing leaf spot of broccolini and P. syrin- they have the same or similar host ranges. gae pv. maculicola. The broccoli raab and broccoli pathogens infected broccoli raab, all cruci- We are, therefore, unable to predict if the fers tested, tomato, and three monocots (California brome, oat, and common timothy). None of pathogen from one crop has the potential to the other pathogens tested (P. syringae pv. maculicola, P. syringae pv.tomato, or P. syringae pv. infect a second planting of a different host. coronafaciens) caused disease on broccoli raab or on both crucifers and monocots. Data from Having a better understanding of the host phage sensitivity, ice nucleation, single carbon source utilization, BOX-PCR, and host range range of these pathogens would be useful analyses were identical for the pathogens from broccoli raab and broccoli, but were different to make crop rotation recommendations for from other pathovars tested, and supported the hypothesis that a new pathovar of P. syringae pv. second plantings. Our goal was to charac- alisalensis pv. nov. caused a leaf blight on broccoli and broccoli raab. terize the pathogens to aid in making these management choices. The specific objec- Additional keywords: BOX-PCR, coronatine production, phage sensitivity tives of this work were: (i) to determine if these three new bacterial diseases are caused by the same pathogen; (ii) to clarify Broccoli (Brassica olearacea var. botry- over $11 million; 23). This leafy vegetable host ranges of these three bacterial patho- tis) is a valuable U.S. commodity both has a flavor between broccoli and mustard gens; and (iii) to clarify the taxonomy of nutritionally and economically. It is an greens and is widely grown in Europe (11). these pathogens. excellent source of vitamin C and provides Broccolini (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis dietary fiber, protein, iron, calcium, and × Brassica alboglabra), is another novel MATERIALS AND METHODS vitamin A. Broccoli also contains antican- crucifer grown in Monterey County. This Microorganisms and media. The bac- cer components (37). The financial benefit gourmet broccoli is a cross between broc- teria used in these studies are listed in Ta- of broccoli to the U.S. agricultural industry coli and chinese kale (gai lan). Acreage ble 1. For all experiments, P. syringae pv. is significant. The value of the 1999 U.S. and demand for this crop are expected to coronafaciens, P. syringae pv. syringae, P. broccoli crop was over $493 million (1). increase over the next few years as con- syringae pv. maculicola, and P. syringae Approximately 95% of U.S. broccoli pro- sumers become more familiar with it. pv. tomato were used as controls. The bac- duction occurs in California, with Mon- Since 1995, leaf lesions caused by bacte- teria were stored at –80°C in a solution of terey County in the Central Coast Region, ria have begun to appear on all three of 50% glycerol and 50% nutrient broth (NB; producing 50% of the state’s acreage. these hosts. Bacterial leaf spot of cauli- Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI) and rou- Monterey County is the leading broccoli flower, caused by P. syringae pv. maculi- tinely cultured on King’s medium B agar producing county in the country (25). cola, was initially documented in 1911 (KMB; 16). All chemicals were purchased Broccoli production in Monterey County in (29). Although this pathogen is now known from Sigma Chemical Company (St. 1999 was worth over $359 million (23). to infect many crucifers (3,42), the symp- Louis, MO) unless otherwise indicated. Broccoli raab (Brassica rapa subsp. toms on broccoli raab and broccoli are not Isolation of the causal agent. Sympto- rapa), also known as rappini, has become similar to those caused by P. syringae pv. matic leaves were surface-sterilized with an important crucifer grown in coastal maculicola. Bacterial blight of broccoli (0.525%) sodium hypochlorite for 1 min California for east coast markets (worth raab was the first crucifer blight described followed by rinsing in sterile distilled wa- in the Salinas Valley of California (21). ter three times. Small (3 × 3 mm) sections &RUUHVSRQGLQJÃDXWKRUÃ&Ã7Ã%XOOÃ Initial symptoms consist of small water- of tissue were aseptically excised from leaf E-mail: FEXOO#SZDUVXVGDJRY soaked flecks on the lower foliage. These spot margins and macerated in 40 µl of flecks expand and become surrounded by sterile distilled water. The resulting sus- *The e-Xtra logo stands for “electronic extra” and bright yellow borders, which eventually may pensions or a dilution were streaked on indicates the HTML abstract available on-line coalesce and result in large necrotic areas. sucrose peptone agar (4) and incubated at contains supplemental material not included in the Later, a similar bacterial blight of broccoli 24 to 26°C. After 3 to 5 days, single colo- print edition. emerged (20). Most recently, a bacterial leaf nies were purified and stored. Accepted for publication 9 May 2002. spot of broccolini developed on transplants Isolations of fungi from diseased tissue (5). Although initial characterization of these were attempted because fungal diseases pathogens suggests that they are related cause lesions on the leaves of crucifers in Publication no. D-2002-0628-01R pathovars of P. syringae, specific characteri- the Salinas Valley (18,22). Small leaf sec- This article is in the public domain and not copy- zation was incomplete (6). tions were aseptically removed and placed rightable. It may be freely reprinted with custom- ary crediting of the source. The American Phyto- In the Salinas Valley, many fields are on acidified potato dextrose agar (2 ml of pathological Society, 2002. planted with two crops of crucifers in 1 lactic acid per liter). Plates were incubated 992 Plant Disease / Vol. 86 No. 9 under lights at 24°C and examined after 3 ters using a standard method (30). Fatty strains present on each plate. Plates were to 7 days for fungal growth. acids were analyzed with the Sherlock incubated at 27°C and results were re- Pathogenicity tests. The causal agents Microbial Identification System Version corded after 3, 7, and 14 days. Three or of the new diseases and strains of the con- 2.11 (MIDI Inc., Newark, DE) that used an four replications were made for each or- trol pathovars were tested on plants from automated GC 6890 Hewlett-Packard gas ganism and the experiment was conducted the host range of P. syringae pv. tomato, P. chromatograph fitted with a 25 × 0.2 mm three times. syringae pv. maculicola, P. syringae pv. phenyl methyl silicone-fused silica capil- Isolation of phage and test of patho- coronafaciens and the hosts of the new lary column, an HP 7673 automatic sam- gen sensitivity. A bacteriophage was re- diseases. Hosts tested included: broccoli pler, and HP Chem Station Software (30). covered from standing water in a commer- (cv. Greenbelt), cauliflower (Brassica ol- The analyses included assessing the degree cial broccoli raab field in the Salinas eracea subsp. botrytis cv. White Rock), of similarity of fatty acid composition. Valley in 1998. Enrichment flasks were broccoli raab (cv. Spring), broccolini (cv. Analyses were conducted three times for prepared by adding 50 ml of field water to Aspabrock), California brome (Bromus each strain. Strains were also compared 2 g of CaCO3 and 3 ml of overnight NB carinatus), corn (Zea mays cvs. Kandy three times by their carbon source utiliza- cultures of the broccoli raab pathogen. The Korn and Silver Queen), oat (Avena sativa tion profiles on Biolog GN microplates flasks were incubated at 27°C overnight. cv. Montezuma), rye (Secale cereale cv. (Biolog, Inc., Hayward, CA). Standard methods were used to recover and Merced), common timothy (Phleum prat- Carbon utilization. Because the use of isolate phage as well as determine sensitiv- ense), and tomato (Lycopersicon esculen- four carbon sources, erythritol, trigonel- ity of strains to the isolated phage (17). A tum cv. Early Girl). line, ascorbic acid, and D-tartrate can dis- routine test dilution giving confluent lysis To test pathogenicity, NB was inocu- tinguish P. syringae pv. coronafaciens, P. of the propagating strain was calculated lated with individual strains and cultures syringae pv. syringae, and P. syringae pv. from a prepared phage stock. A 300-µl were shaken at 200 rpm for 24 h.