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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Orono, Maine » New England Plant, Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #348654
Title: Phylogeny of pectolytic bacteria associated with recent outbreaks of potato soft rot and blackleg in the United States

Author
item CURLAND, R - University Of Minnesota
item MCNALLY, R - Colorado State University
item WEBSTER, B - University Of Minnesota
item CHARKOWSKI, A - Colorado State University
item PERRY, K - Cornell University
item HAO, J - University Of Maine
item SECOR, G - North Dakota State University
item BULL, C - Pennsylvania State University
item ROSENZWEIG, N - Michigan State University
item JOHNSON, S - University Of Maine
item Larkin, Robert - Bob
item ISHIMARU, C - University Of Minnesota

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/27/2018
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soft rot diseases of potato are caused by several species of bacteria belonging to the newly described family Pectobacteriaceae. Multiple species of Pectobacterium are known to cause soft rot diseases during field production and storage of potatoes. Recently, the genus Dickeya has been connected with significant losses from blackleg and non-emergence diseases in commercial and seed potatoes grown in the Northeastern U.S. To develop a more extensive depiction of the soft rot pathogens currently present in the U.S. and to re-evaluate identifications of soft rot bacteria made prior to the reclassification of erwinia soft rot bacteria into Pectobacterium and Dickeya, a phylogenetic study of a large collection of pectolytic soft rot bacteria was conducted. The collection included strains from recent potato soft rot outbreaks around the U.S, historical strains from academic culture collections and reference strains from bacterial culture repositories. Phylogenies were constructed using a multilocus sequence alignment (MLSA) of 3-5 housekeeping genes. P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliensis and P. parmentieri were highly represented in the collection. D. chrysanthemi, D. dianthicola, D. dadantii were also present. The quarantine organism D. solani was not detected. By providing new baseline knowledge, this study can aid in monitoring future shifts in soft rot pathogens within the U.S. and inform strategies for disease management.