Fire blight: applied genomic insights of the pathogen and host.
The enterobacterial phytopathogen Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight, an invasive disease that threatens a wide range of commercial and ornamental Rosaceae host plants. The response elicited by E. amylovora in its host during disease development is similar to the hypersensitive reaction that typically leads to resistance in an incompatible host-pathogen interaction, yet no gene-for-gene resistance has been described for this host-pathogen system. Comparative genomic analysis has found an unprecedented degree of genetic uniformity among strains of E. amylovora, suggesting that the pathogen has undergone a recent genetic bottleneck. The genome of apple, an important host of E. amylovora, has been sequenced, creating new opportunities for the study of interactions between host and pathogen during fire blight development and for the identification of resistance genes. This review includes recent advances in the genomics of both host and pathogen.
Department of Biology and Genomics of Fruit Plants, FEM IASMA Research and Innovation Center, Foundation Edmund Mach di San Michele all'Adige, Trento, Italy. mickael.malnoy@fmach.it
Mickael
M
Malnoy
Stefan
S
Martens
John L
JL
Norelli
Marie-Anne
MA
Barny
George W
GW
Sundin
Theo H M
TH
Smits
Brion
B
Duffy
D044084:Erwinia amylovora / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D023281:Genomics; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D027845:Malus / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D027824:Rosaceae / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D014774:Virulence