Publications

4377

Temperature has been shown to have a significant effect on development of liberibacter species associated with citrus Huanglongbing disease. ‘Candidatus Liberibacter africanus’ and ‘Ca. L. americanus’ are both heat sensitive, whereas ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ is heat tolerant. The recently described ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ is associated with zebra chip (ZC), a newly emerging and economically important disease of potato worldwide. This psyllid-transmitted liberibacter species severely affects several other solanaceous crops and carrot. Experiments were conducted to evaluate effects of temperature on development of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ and ZC disease. Potato plants were inoculated with ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ by briefly exposing them to liberibacter-infective potato psyllids at various temperatures under laboratory conditions. Following insect exposure, the plants were maintained at selected temperature regimes in growth chambers, monitored for ZC symptom development, and later tested for liberibacter by polymerase chain reaction to confirm infection. Results indicated that temperatures below 17°C appear to slow development of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ and ZC symptoms, whereas temperatures above 32°C are detrimental to this liberibacter. Compared to Huanglongbing liberibacters, ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ appears heat sensitive. The sensitivity of this bacterium and its insect vector to temperature may partially explain incidence, severity, and distribution of ZC in affected regions.

AbstractWe report the detection of phytoplasmas in Picea abies, Picea glauca and Picea pungens trees with witches’ brooms and other growth abnormalities and also in symptomless trees. Phytoplasmas were detected in c. 25% of the tested plants by polymerase chain reaction using phytoplasma universal P1/P7 followed by R16F2n/R16R2 primer pairs. The phytoplasmas were classified as members of the phylogenetic groups: 16SrI, ‘Ca. Phytoplasma asteris’; 16SrIII, X‐disease phytoplasma group; and 16SrXXI, ‘Ca. Phytoplasma pini’.

Summary In this study, members of a specific group of thin (6–14 µm filament diameter), vacuolated Beggiatoa‐ like filaments from six different hypersaline microbial mats were morphologically and phylogenetically characterized. Therefore, enrichment cultures were established, filaments were stained with fluorochromes to show intracellular structures and 16S rRNA genes were sequenced. Morphological characteristics of Beggiatoa‐ like filaments, in particular the presence of intracellular vacuoles, and the distribution of nucleic acids were visualized. In the intracellular vacuole nitrate reached concentrations of up to 650 mM. Fifteen of the retrieved 16S rRNA gene sequences formed a monophyletic cluster and were phylogenetically closely related (≥ 94.4% sequence identity). Sequences of known filamentous sulfide‐oxidizing genera Beggiatoa and Thioploca that comprise non‐vacuolated and vacuolated filaments from diverse habitats clearly delineated from this cluster. The novel monophyletic cluster was furthermore divided into two sub‐clusters: one contained sequences originating from Guerrero Negro (Mexico) microbial mats and the other comprised sequences from five distinct Spanish hypersaline microbial mats from Ibiza, Formentera and Lake Chiprana. Our data suggest that Beggiatoa ‐like filaments from hypersaline environments displaying a thin filament diameter contain nitrate‐storing vacuoles and are phylogenetically separate from known Beggiatoa . Therefore, we propose a novel genus for these organisms, which we suggest to name ‘ Candidatus Allobeggiatoa’.