Sixty-five potato strains of the soft rotcausing plant pathogenic bacterium Dickeya spp., and two strains from hyacinth, were characterised using biochemical assays, REP-PCR genomic finger printing, 16S rDNA and dnaX sequence analysis. These methods were compared with nineteen strains representing six Dickeya species which included the type strains. A group of twenty-two potato strains isolated between 2005-2007 in the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Israel were characterised as belonging to biovar 3. They were 100% identical in REP-PCR, dnaX and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. In a polyphasic analysis they formed a new clade different from the six Dickeya species previously described, and may therefore constitute a new species. The strains were very similar to a Dutch strain from hyacinth. On the basis of dnaX sequences and biochemical assays, all other potato strains isolated in Europe between 1979 and 1994 were identified as D. dianthicola (biovar 1 and 7), with the exception of two German strains classified as D. dieffenbachia (biovar 2) and D. dadantii (biovar 3), respectively. Potato strains from Peru were classified as D. dadantii, from Australia as D. zeae and from Taiwan as D. chrysanthemi bv. parthenii, indicating that different Dickeya species are found in association with potato.

SummaryA PCR-based kit, Probelia TM, for the detection of Erwinia carotovora subsp, atroseptica (Eca) on potatoes was evaluated at five laboratories in four countries. The kit is based on DNAspecific PCR amplification followed by detection of amplicons by hybridization to a peroxidase-labelled DNA probe in a microplate. Specificity of the PCR primers for Eca, regardless of serogroups, was confirmed by testing against 246 bacterial, fungal and plant species. Detection limits of the assay varied little between six Eca strains in pure cultures (1.3• to 1.5x103 cells ml-l). When Eca-free tuber peel extract from four cultivars was inoculated with known numbers of 15 Eca strains, detection limits were more variable (1.0xl0 l to 6.2x103 cells ml -I peel extract), attributed probably to inconsistency in the recovery of DNA during extraction. When the PCR assay was compared with three current commercial Eca detection methods, using naturally contaminated tubers, results matched most closely those from viable counts on a selective medium, the most sensitive method (88%), followed by enrichment ELISA (72%) and last ELISA (30%), the least sensitive method.

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Recombinant single-chain antibodies (scFvs) against the lipopolysaccharide of Ralstonia solanacearum (biovar 2, race 3) were successfully selected by phage display from a large combinatorial antibody library. Characterization with regard to cross-reaction and use in routine immunoassays showed that the selected antibodies had improved characteristics when compared with the polyclonal antiserum that is currently used for brown rot diagnosis of potato in the Netherlands. The isolated monoclonal scFvs reacted in both enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunofluorescence cell staining with all race 3 strains tested, but with only some strains belonging to other races. Furthermore, only a few cross-reactions with saprophytic bacteria, which also cross-reacted with polyclonal antisera, were observed. Using ELISA, one of the recombinant antibodies detected as few as 5 x 10(3) bacteria in potato tuber extracts. Therefore, this antibody is potentially useful for detection of R. solanacearum race 3.

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