Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #303689
Title: Characterization of Xylella fastidiosa pear leaf scorch strain in Taiwan through whole genome sequence analyses

Author
item SU, C - Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals And Toxic Substances Research Institute
item DENG, W - National Chung-Hsing University
item JAN, F - National Chung-Hsing University
item CHANG, C - University Of Georgia
item HUANG, H - University Of South Florida
item Chen, Jianchi

Submitted to: American Phytopathological Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/9/2014
Publication Date: 11/1/2014
Citation: Su, C.C., Deng, W.L., Jan, F.L., Chang, C.J., Huang, H., Chen, J. 2014. Characterization of Xylella fastidiosa pear leaf scorch strain in Taiwan through whole genome sequence analyses. American Phytopathological Society Abstracts. 104(S3):115.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Xylella fastidiosa is a Gram-negative bacterium causing diseases in many economically important crops mostly in the Americas but also in Asia and Europe. A strain of X. fastidiosa was found to cause pear leaf scorch (PLS) disease in Taiwan in 1992. Because of nutritional fastidiousness, characterization of X. fastidiosa through traditional cultivation-based methodologies yielded limited information. Whole genome sequencing is a powerful tool to generate biological information for fastidious prokaryotes. In this whole genome sequencing project, a PLS strain (PLS229) was isolated from a symptomatic pear tree of cultivar Hengshan (Pyrus pyrifolia) at Houli (24°20’14”N, 120°44’11”E), Taiwan. PLS229 was triple-cloned and cultured in PD2 medium at 28°C for 5-6 days. Total genomic DNA was extracted and sequenced using the 454 GS-FLX system. The PLS229 bacterium has a genome size of 2,733,013 bp with a G+C content of 53.1%. The PLS229 genome was annotated to have 3,259 open reading frames and 50 RNA genes. The whole genome sequence of PLS229 shared 99% similarity to X. fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa (Temecula1 and M23), subsp. multiplex (M12) and subsp. pauca (9a5c) at the rrs (16S ribosomal RNA gene) locus. In contrast, strain PLS229 was more distantly related (88-89% nucleotide sequence similarity) to all three subspecies at loci gyrB, dnaK, and rpoD, suggesting a possible new subspecies.