RESUMEN

Chile peppers are among the most common and important crops in the State of Baja California Sur, Mexico, where diverse varieties of this crop are annually cultivated. The "chile ancho" (Capsicum annuum L. var. ancho poblano) is one of the most popular hot peppers that is exported fresh to the United States. During a survey in December of 2007 in an experimental field of the CIBNOR in El Carrizal, one of the principal farm districts in the state, a high incidence of yellowing, stunted growth with shortened internodes, foliage discoloration, malformation and crinkle, abortion of flowers, and reduction in size and quantity of fruit were noted in chile ancho. Symptoms and the presence of large populations of whiteflies in the field suggested a possible viral etiology of disease. The symptoms of disease were successfully transmitted by grafting from field plants to tomato and pepper test plants. Samples from both field and test plants were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and molecular techniques. SEM study revealed groups of geminate particles characteristic of begomoviruses (Geminiviridae) in phloem tissue of randomly selected symptomatic plants (four field and two test plants). Total DNA from 12 symptomatic plants (eight naturally infected and four test plants) was obtained by a modified Dellaporta method and analyzed by PCR using the begomovirus universal primers prRepDGR (2) and prC889 (3). Amplicons of ~1.4 kb were obtained from all plant samples and PCR products from four of them were cloned into pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega, Madison, WI) and subsequently analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using EcoRI and HinfI. Two distinct restriction fragment patterns were observed among the cloned PCR products, indicating the occurrence of at least two viruses in the infected plant tissues. The four examined samples contained the same two begomoviruses according to the RFLP analysis data. The complete sequence of the genomic component A of those viruses was determined by PCR amplification of viral DNA with universal, degenerate primers previously described (2), the subsequent cloning of overlapped PCR products, and sequencing. The full-length DNA-A sequence was assembled and compared with viral sequences available at the GenBank database using BlastN and the ClustalV alignment method (MegAlign; DNASTAR, Madison, WI). The 2,781-bp complete genome sequence of one co-infecting monopartite begomovirus (Accession No. HM459851) displayed the highest identity (99%) with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), isolate Guasave, Sinaloa (Accession No. FJ609655). The 2,609-bp DNA-A sequence of the second begomovirus exhibited the highest nucleotide identity (96%) with Tomato chino La Paz virus (ToChLPV)-[Baja California Sur] (Accession No. AY339619). The presence of TYLCV in this region of Mexico had not been previously reported nor was ToChLPV detected in pepper until now. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a mixed infection of pepper plants with TYLCV and a bipartite begomovirus in Baja California Peninsula. Since the high frequency of recombination events observed in begomovirus mixed infections involving TYLCV (1), it would be important to monitor the possible emergence of ToChLPV-TYLCV recombinants with higher potential virulence. References: (1) S. García-Andrés et al. Virology 365:210, 2007. (2) A. Mauricio-Castillo et al. Plant Dis. 91:1513, 2007. (3) S. D. Wyatt and J. K. Brown. Phytopathology 86:1288, 1996.

RESUMEN

Dense layers of bacteria and fungi in the rhizoplane of three species of cactus (Pachycereus pringlei, Stenocereus thurberi, Opuntia cholla) and a wild fig tree (Ficus palmeri) growing in rocks devoid of soil were revealed by bright-field and fluorescence microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. These desert plants are responsible for rock weathering in an ancient lava flow at La Purisima-San Isidro and in sedimentary rock in the Sierra de La Paz, both in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The dominant bacterial groups colonizing the rhizoplane were fluorescent pseudomonads and bacilli. Seven of these bacterial species were identified by the 16S rRNA molecular method. Unidentified fungal and actimomycete species were also present. Some of the root-colonizing microorganisms fixed in vitro N(2), produced volatile and non-volatile organic acids that subsequently reduced the pH of the rock medium in which the bacteria grew, and significantly dissolved insoluble phosphates, extrusive igneous rock, marble, and limestone. The bacteria were able to release significant amounts of useful minerals, such as P, K, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn from the rocks and were thermo-tolerant, halo-tolerant, and drought-tolerant. The microbial community survived in the rhizoplane of cacti during the annual 10-month dry season. This study indicates that rhizoplane bacteria on cacti roots in rock may be involved in chemical weathering in hot, subtropical deserts.

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Chlorella vulgaris, a microalga often used in wastewater treatment, was coimmobilized and coincubated either with the plant growth-promoting bacterium Azospirillum brasilense, or with its natural associative bacterium Phyllobacterium myrsinacearum, in alginate beads designed for advanced wastewater treatment. Interactions between the microalga and each of the bacterial species were followed using transmission electron microscopy for 10 days. Initially, most of the small cavities within the beads were colonized by microcolonies of only one microorganism, regardless of the bacterial species cocultured with the microalga. Subsequently, the bacterial and microalgal microcolonies merged to form large, mixed colonies within the cavities. At this stage, the effect of bacterial association with the microalga differed depending on the bacterium present. Though the microalga entered a senescence phase in the presence of P. myrsinacearum, it remained in a growth phase in the presence of A. brasilense. This study suggests that there are commensal interactions between the microalga and the two plant associative bacteria, and that with time the bacterial species determined whether the outcome for the microalga is senescence or continuous multiplication.

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In an agroindustrial wastewater pond, a naturally occurring unicellular microalga, Chlorella vulgaris, was closely associated with the terrestrial plant-associative N2-fixing bacterium Phyllobacterium myrsinacearum. When the two microorganisms were artificially coimmobilized in alginate beads, they shared the same internal bead cavities, and the production of five microalgal pigments increased, but there were no effects on the number of the cells or the biomass of the microalga. The association, however, reduces the ability of C. vulgaris to remove ammonium ions and phosphorus from water. The bacterium produced nitrate from ammonium in synthetic wastewater with or without the presence of the microalga, and fixed nitrogen in two culture media. Our results suggest that interactions between microalgae and associative bacteria should be considered when cultivating microalgae for wastewater treatment.

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Two novel non-allelic mutants that were unable to fix nitrogen (Fix ) were obtained after EMS (ethyl methyl sulfonate) mutagenesis of pea (Pisum sativum L.). Both mutants, SGEFix(-)-1) and SGEFix(-)-2, form two types of nodules: SGEFix(-)-1 forms numerous white and some pink nodules, while mutant SGEFix(-)-2 forms white nodules with a dark pit at the distal end and also some pinkish nodules. Both mutations are monogenic and recessive. In both lines the manifestation of the mutant phenotype is associated with the root genotype. White nodules of SGEFix(-)-1 are characterised by hypertrophied infection threads and infection droplets, mass endocytosis of bacteria, abnormal morphological differentiation of bacteroids, and premature degradation of nodule symbiotic structures. The structure of the pink nodules of SGEFix(-)-1 does not differ from that of the parental line, SGE. White nodules of SGEFix(-)-2 are characterised by "locked" infection threads surrounded with abnormally thick plant cell walls. In these nodules there is no endocytosis of bacteria into host-cell cytoplasm. The pinkish nodules of SGEFix(-)-2 are characterised by virtually undifferentiated bacteroids and premature degradation of nodule tissues. Thus, the novel pea symbiotic genes, synm40 and sym33, identified after complementation analysis in SGEFix(-)-1 and SGEFix(-)-2 lines, respectively, control early nodule developmental stages connected with infection thread formation and function.

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Two Fix- mutants of pea (Pisum sativum L.) which are unable to fix molecular nitrogen, E135f (sym-13) and Sprint-2Fix- (sym-31), were crossed to create the doubly homozygous recessive line, named RBT (sym-13, sym-31). The ultrastructural organization of nodules of the RBT line was compared with that of each of the two parental mutant lines and with the original wild-type genotypes of the cultivars Sparkle and Sprint-2. It was shown that the RBT line is similar to the mutant line Sprint-2Fix- in having abnormal symbiosome composition and bacteroids with relatively undifferentiated morphology. Because the phenotypic manifestation of the sym-31 mutant allele suppresses the phenotypic manifestation of the sym-13 mutant allele, it is concluded that the function of the gene Sym-31 (which is mutated in the Sprint-2Fix- line) is necessary at an earlier stage of symbiosome development than the gene Sym-13 (which is mutant in the E135f line).

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