RESUMEN

The bacterium Acidovorax avenae causes disease in a wide range of economically important monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, including corn, rice, watermelon, anthurium, and orchids. Genotypic and phenotypic relatedness among strains of phytopathogenic A. avenae subsp. avenae, A. avenae subsp. citrulli, A. avenae subsp. cattleyae and A. konjaci, as well as all other Acidovorax species, including A. facilis, the type strain of Acidovorax, was determined. The 16s rDNA sequencing confirmed previous studies showing the environmental species to be very distant from the phytopathogenic species. DNA/DNA reassociation assays on the different strains of A. avenae revealed four (A, B, C, and D) distinct genotypes. Taxon A included six A. avenae subsp. avenae strains from corn that had a mean reciprocal similarity of 81%; taxon B included six A. avenae subsp. avenae strains from rice that had a mean reciprocal similarity of 97%; taxon C contained 11 A. avenae subsp. citrulli strains from cucurbits (cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkin) that had a mean reciprocal similarity of 88%, and taxon D contained four A. avenae subsp. cattleyae strains from orchids that had a mean similarity of 98%. The mean reciprocal relatedness between taxa A, B, C, and D was less than 70%. Sequence analysis of 16S rDNA and the 16S-23S rDNA internally transcribed spacer region, as well as AFLP analysis, revealed the same four taxa. All four were easily differentiated phenotypically from each other and from all other recognized Acidovorax species. Strains of A. avenae did not contain 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid, which was found in all other species. On the basis of these and previous genetic and phenotypic results, we propose an emendation of the species A. avenae. A. avenae subsp. citrulli (C strains) and A. avenae subsp. cattleyae (D strains) should be elevated to species rank as A. citrulli and A. cattleyae, respectively. We further propose a new taxon for the B strains, A. oryzae sp. nov. with FC-143T = ICPB 30003T = ICMP 3960T = ATCC 19882T as the type strain.

Asunto(s)

Comamonadaceae/clasificación , Enfermedades de las Plantas/microbiología , Plantas/microbiología , Análisis del Polimorfismo de Longitud de Fragmentos Amplificados , Comamonadaceae/genética , Comamonadaceae/patogenicidad , Comamonadaceae/fisiología , ADN Espaciador Ribosómico/genética , Ácidos Grasos/metabolismo , Genes Bacterianos , Hibridación de Ácido Nucleico , Orchidaceae/microbiología , Fenotipo , Plantas Comestibles/microbiología , ARN Ribosómico 16S/genética

RESUMEN

Burkholderia andropogonis is the causal agent of bacterial leaf stripe in sorghum. Strict import quarantine regulations of numerous countries mandate a need for development of a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective diagnostic technique for the identification of B. andropogonis. Using a primer corresponding to the bacterial repetitive BOX element and PCR, we developed a DNA fingerprint which differentiated B. andropogonis from other phytobacterial pathogens.

Asunto(s)

Burkholderia/aislamiento & purificación , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa/métodos , Burkholderia/genética , Secuencias Repetitivas de Ácidos Nucleicos

RESUMEN

Strains of Fusarium moniliforme (Gibberella fujikuroi mating population A) that differ in fu-monisin production in vitro were previously identified in a Kansas field population. One strain that produced high levels of fumonisins and two strains that produced very low levels of fu-monisins were applied to maize kernels at planting at the Rocky Ford Farm near Manhattan, Kansas. The distribution of fumonisins in symptomatic and symptomless kernels from individual harvested ears was determined by high performance liquid chromatography, and the distribution of the three applied strains in the kernels was determined by vegetative compatibility group analysis. Both symptomatic and symptomless kernels were extensively colonized with F. moniliforme, but the highest levels of fumonisins were in the symptomatic kernels. All three applied strains were recovered from kernels in 1993, and two of them were recovered from kernels in 1994. However, a high frequency of ear and kernel infection with a strain that produced little fumonisin in vitro did not consistently decrease the level of fumonisins. The frequency of infection with fumonisin low-producing strains may have been too low for competitive exclusion of naturally occurring fumonisin high-producing strains. Also, strains that are low-fumonisin producers under laboratory conditions may be high producers in the field.