title: Molecular and physiological properties of bacteriophages from North America and Germany affecting the fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora.
abstract: For possible control of fire blight affecting apple and pear trees, we characterized Erwinia amylovora phages from North America and Germany. The genome size determined by electron microscopy (EM) was confirmed by sequence data and major coat proteins were identified from gel bands by mass spectroscopy. By their morphology from EM data, φEa1h and φEa100 were assigned to the Podoviridae and φEa104 and φEa116 to the Myoviridae. Host ranges were essentially confined to E. amylovora, strains of the species Erwinia pyrifoliae, E. billingiae and even Pantoea stewartii were partially sensitive. The phages φEa1h and φEa100 were dependent on the amylovoran capsule of E. amylovora, φEa104 and φEa116 were not. The Myoviridae efficiently lysed their hosts and protected apple flowers significantly better than the Podoviridae against E. amylovora and should be preferred in biocontrol experiments. We have also isolated and partially characterized E. amylovora phages from apple orchards in Germany. They belong to the Podoviridae or Myoviridae with a host range similar to the phages isolated in North America. In EM measurements, the genome sizes of the Podoviridae were smaller than the genomes of the Myoviridae from North America and from Germany, which differed from each other in corresponding nucleotide sequences.
authors.affiliation: Julius Kühn-Institut, Institut für Pflanzenschutz in Obst- und Weinbau, Schwabenheimer Str. 101, 69221 Dossenheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Rudi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lurz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kube
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quedenau
authors.forename: Wilhelm
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jelkmann
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Geider
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004586:Electrophoresis; D044084:Erwinia amylovora / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000821:virology*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005858:Germany; D058507:Host Specificity; D027845:Malus; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D017900:Myoviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D009656:North America; D020636:Pantoea / Q000821:virology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D017902:Podoviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D031989:Pyrus; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins