A polyphasic approach assigns the pathogenic Erwinia strains from diseased pear trees in Japan to Erwinia pyrifoliae.
OBJECTIVE
Bacterial shoot blight of pear in Japan (BSBP) is caused by Erwinia strains which were formerly associated with the species Erwinia amylovora, the causative agent of fire blight. The description of Erwinia pyrifoliae as a pear pathogen in Korea renewed a possible connection of the pear pathogens in both countries.


RESULTS
Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA, the house keeping genes gpd and recA, as well as DNA-DNA hybridization kinetics and microbiological assays place the pear pathogens from Japan into the species E. pyrifoliae described as the causative agent of Asian pear blight in Korea.


CONCLUSIONS
Erwinia pyrifoliae strains from Korea and the pear pathogenic Erwinia strains from Japan belong taxonomically into the same species, but show slight divergences in nucleotide sequences used for classification. The allocation is not only supported by microbiological properties, but also by a host range restricted to pear observed before by others.


CONCLUSIONS
The data suggest that the BSBP disease observed at the island of Hokkaido was not fire blight and unify BSBP in Japan with the pear pathogenic species E. pyrifoliae from Korea.
Geider
K
K
Julius Kühn Institut, Institut für Pflanzenschutz in Obst- und Weinbau, Dossenheim, Germany. klaus.geider@jki.bund.de
Auling
G
G
Jakovljevic
V
V
Völksch
B
B
D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D004885:Erwinia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005954:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D007564:Japan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D031989:Pyrus / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D005954:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase; D011938:Rec A Recombinases