title: Isolation and partial characterization of bacteriophages infecting Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae, causal agent of kiwifruit bacterial canker.
abstract: The phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is the causal agent of bacterial canker of kiwifruit. In the last years, it has caused severe economic losses to Actinidia spp. cultivations, mainly in Italy and New Zealand. Conventional strategies adopted did not provide adequate control of infection. Phage therapy may be a realistic and safe answer to the urgent need for novel antibacterial agents aiming to control this bacterial pathogen. In this study, we described the isolation and characterization of two bacteriophages able to specifically infect Psa. φPSA1, a member of the Siphoviridae family, is a temperate phage with a narrow host range, a long latency, and a burst size of 178; φPSA2 is a lytic phage of Podoviridae family with a broader host range, a short latency, a burst size of 92 and a higher bactericidal activity as determined by the TOD value. The genomic sequence of φPSA1 has a length of 51,090 bp and a low sequence homology with the other siphophages, whereas φPSA2 has a length of 40 472 bp with a 98% homology with Pseudomonas putida bacteriophage gh-1. Of the two phages examined, φPSA2 may be considered as a candidate for phage therapy of kiwifruit disease, while φPSA1 seems specific toward the recent outbreak's isolates and could be useful for Psa typing.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Universita' di Roma "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Lallo
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Evangelisti
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mancuso
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marcelletti
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tinari
authors.forename: Fabiana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Superti
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Migliore
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: D'Addabbo
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frezza
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scortichini
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Thaller
mesh_terms: D029042:Actinidia / Q000382:microbiology*; D001433:Bacteriolysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D058507:Host Specificity; D007558:Italy; D008242:Lysogeny; D050296:Microbial Viability; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009520:New Zealand; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D017902:Podoviridae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D017105:Pseudomonas Phages / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D044224:Pseudomonas syringae / Q000821:virology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D017906:Siphoviridae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral
keywords: Bacteriophage; Kiwifruit canker; Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae