Taxonomy and Pathogenicity of Erwinia cacticida sp. nov. 

Abstract

A total of 108 pectolytic, soft-rotting Erwinia strains were collected from 11 types of cacti growing in Arizona, Texas, northern Mexico, and Australia between 1958 and. Four strains were collected from soils beneath or close to naturally rotting saguaro cacti. Collectively, these strains caused soft rots of saguaro, organ pipe, and senita cacti, Opuntia (cactus) fruits and pads, tomato fruits, and potato slices, but only occasionally caused soft rots of slices of carrot roots. A numerical cluster analysis showed that 98 of the 112 strains formed a uniform group (cluster 1A) that was distinguished from other pectolytic erwinias by an API 20E code of 1205131, by negative reactions in API 5OCHE tests for L-arabinose, myo-inositol, D-cellobiose, melibiose, and D-raffinose, and, in supplemental tests, by positive reactions for malonate and growth at 43°C. The average levels of DNA relatedness of 22 cluster 1A strains to the proposed type strain (strain 1-12) as determined by the hydroxyapatite method were 88% in 60°C reactions (with 1% divergence within related sequences) and 87% in 75°C reactions. The levels of relatedness to the type strains of other Erwinia spp. were 138% in 75°C reactions. Cluster 1A strains also had a characteristic cellular fatty acid profile containing cyclo-( 11,12)-nonadecanoic acid (C19:o cycle cll-lz) and missing tridecanoic acid (CI3J, heptadecanoic acid (C1,:o), and cis-9-heptadecenoic acid (Cl,:l g ) , which separated them from other pectolytic erwinias. Collectively, these data indicate that the members of cluster 1A are members of a new species, which we name Erwinia cacticida. Three cactus strains in cluster 1B appear to represent a second new species that is closely related to E. cacticida; these strains are designated E . cacticida-like pending the availability of additional strains for testing. The remaining cactus strains (in cluster 4) have the physiological, DNA, and fatty acid profiles of Erwinia carotovora.To our knowledge, Johnston and Hitchcock (22) were the first workers to describe a bacterial soft-rot disease of cacti in the United States. The cultures of these authors were isolated from prickly pear cacti (Opuntia tomentella Berger and OpuntiaJicus-indica (L.) Mill.) that were originally from Guatemala and Columbia but were growing in the U.S. Department of Agriculture plant introduction garden in Florida. The bacterium was briefly characterized as "an actively motile, gram-negative, aerobic, and facultative anaerobic bacillus" which produced an acid reaction when it was grown in broth containing "glucose, saccharose, mannite, and salicin but none in maltose, lactose, dulcite, and arabinose" (22). Subsequently, another new bacterial species, Erwinia carnegieana Standring 1942 (23), was described (3, 6, 23, 28) as being the causal agent of bacterial necrosis (a soft-rot disease) of saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea Britt. & Rose). Among the soft-rot erwinias, this species was unique in that it was gram positive, a characteristic also noted by Boyle (6), and had a host ...

Transfer of Erwinia ananas (synonym, Erwinia uredovora) and Erwinia stewartii to the Genus Pantoea emend. as Pantoea ananas (Serrano 1928) comb. nov. and Pantoea stewartii (Smith 1898) comb. nov., Respectively, and Description of Pantoea stewartii subsp. indologenes subsp. nov.

“…The contention that these names are synonyms is supported by the results of numerical analyses (14,34,45), in which the type strains, as well as other strains, consistently were placed in the same phena, and by the similarity of the fatty acid compositions (Fig. 4) (2). Erwinia ananas has been identified as a cause of rot of pineapple, but no supplementary evidence that Erwinia ananas is the causative agent of the disease has been presented since the original report of Serrano (40).…”

Elevation of three subspecies of Pectobacterium carotovorum to species level: Pectobacterium atrosepticum sp. nov., Pectobacterium betavasculorum sp. nov. and Pectobacterium wasabiae sp. nov.

“…Among the 17 differentiating tests selected on the basis of numerical taxonomy by diagnostic ability coefficient, 12 were previously reported tests, confirmed in their ability to identify the subspecies of P. carotovorum (Dye, 1969;Graham, 1972;Thomson et al, 1981;Verdonck et al, 1987;De Boer et al, 1987;Goto & Matsumoto, 1987;Alcorn et al, 1991;Gallois et al, 1992). Of the five other tests, palatinose was already known but is too expensive to be used routinely.…”

“…For the purposes of identification of E. carotovora subspecies, several studies have yielded reliable phenotypic criteria that differentiate two or more subspecies (Graham, 1972;Thomson et al, 1981;Verdonck et al, 1987;de Boer et al, 1987;Goto & Matsumoto, 1987;Alcorn et al, 1991;Gallois et al, 1992). Serological differentiation using the Ouchterlony double-diffusion method was effective for an E. carotovora subsp.…”

“…Of all the softrot bacteria, only E. cacticida (=Pectobacterium cacticidum) (Alcorn et al, 1991) and E. carotovora subsp. odorifera (=P.…”

Infection by a coronatine-producing strain of Pectobacterium cacticidum isolated from sunflower plants in Mexico is characterized by soft rot and chlorosis

“…This novel Pectobacterium strain was also found to cause severe soft rot and chlorosis, not only in this crop but in representative species of several other angiosperm families. Sequence data of the 16S ribosomal DNA gene and the intergenic transcribed spacer region (ITS), complemented with biochemical and microbiological analysis identified this bacterial pathogen as a novel strain of P. cacticidum, which has been previously reported to infect cacti and agave (Alcorn et al 1991;Jiménez-Hidalgo et al 2004). In addition, the finding of a bacterium that causes soft-rot and chlorosis of sunflower and other angiosperm plants complements the relatively few reports of similarly acting pathogenic bacteria (Ishiga et al 2009;Slawiak and Lojkowska 2009).…”