title: Genetic characterization of Erwinia amylovora strains by random amplified polymorphic DNA fragments (RAPD).
abstract: Erwinia amylovora is the causative agent of fire blight, a destructive disease of rosaceous plants subjected to strict quarantine regulations worldwide. Previous studies showed that the population of E. amylovora in Romania is homogenous in its biochemical and serological characteristics, despite the different strains' geographical and host origin. The aim of the present study was to establish and test a typing method to quantify genetic diversity among the Romanian strains of this plant pathogen. Fourteen strains isolated from different hosts and geographical locations in Romania were examined by random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD) fragment analysis with two ten-base primers. This molecular method has not revealed any polymorphism, producing the same amplification patterns for all tested strains. Clustering of strains in the resulting dendrogram was not correlated with host, or region of isolation. The RAPD technique did not allow the detection of genetic markers in E. amylovora strains isolated in Romania and proved not to be discriminating among strains of this pathogen. The results presented in this study suggest that the population of E. amylovora in Romania is homogenous.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Central Laboratory for Phytosanitary Quarantine, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Luminiţa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Măruţescu
authors.forename: Filofteia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Manole
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sesan
mesh_terms: D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D044084:Erwinia amylovora / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D012383:Romania; D027824:Rosaceae; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial