Publications

4368

Little is known about ‘Candidatus Liberibacter americanus’, a causal agent of huanglongbing or greening disease in Brazil, or its interaction with citrus trees. Greenhouse experiments were conducted with the objective of determining conditions favorable for transmission from field affected trees to young potted plants, to evaluate the reaction of multiple citrus species to the disease, and to determine the efficiency of pathogen propagation from individual buds. Single buds or bark pieces of various sizes or bark plus wood (budstick) that were removed from symptomatic or asymptomatic branches were used as sources of inoculum. Transmission success was evaluated through polymerase chain reaction analysis of total DNA extracted from leaf samples. Beginning at 4 to 5 months after inoculation, infected plants manifested leaf mottling and symptoms similar to those of iron, manganese, and zinc deficiencies. Blotchy mottled leaves appeared only on sweet oranges and Murcott tangor. Pathogen transmission was higher for these citrus cultivars and species (31.2 to 65.2%) than for limes, mandarins, or Swingle citrumelo (2.0 to 25.0%). Deformed small fruits with brownish columellae also developed on sweet oranges. Only buds and budsticks served as sources of inoculum and the larger the piece of tissue, the higher the transmission efficiency. Experiments initiated during the winter showed lower rates of graft tissue survival but relatively higher percentages of pathogen transmission.

Summary The phylum Chlamydiae contains obligate intracellular bacteria, several of which cause disease in their hosts. Morphological studies have suggested that this group of bacteria may be pathogens of fish, causing cysts in epithelial tissue – epitheliocystis. Recently, the first genetic evidence of a chlamydial aetiology of this disease in seawater reared Atlantic salmon from Norway and Ireland was presented, and the agent was given the name ‘ Candidatus Piscichlamydia salmonis’. In this article we present molecular evidence for the existence of a novel Chlamydiae that also may cause epitheliocystis in Norwegian salmonids. This novel Chlamydiae has been found in salmonid fish from freshwater, and based on its partial 16S rRNA gene, it may constitute a third genus in the family Chlamydiaceae , or a closely related sister family. By using whole‐mount RNA–RNA hybridization we demonstrate how infected cells are distributed in a patchy manner on a gill arch. The morphology of the novel Chlamydiae includes the characteristic head‐and‐tail cells that have been described earlier from salmonid fish suffering from epitheliocystis. We propose the name ‘ Candidatus Clavochlamydia salmonicola’ for this agent of epitheliocystis in freshwater salmonids.