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Isolation and genetic characterization of Erwinia amylovora bacteria from Kyrgyzstan

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Abstract

Fire Blight, an economically relevant disease of apple, pear, and quince trees that is caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Erwinia amylovora, was first reported from Kyrgyzstan in 2008. One decade later, the disease has spread across the northern part of the country, affecting fruit orchards mainly in Chuy and Issyk-kul regions. Using semi-selective cultural media, bacteria have been isolated from plant material sampled in infested orchards from different locations in Kyrgyzstan, and 16S rRNA gene sequence determination together with diagnostic PCR have been used to identify E. amylovora bacteria among isolates. The assignment to this taxonomic species has been corroborated by phylogenetic reconstruction using multilocus sequence analysis, and a short-sequence repeat (SSR) marker has been employed to estimate genetic diversity across the isolates. CRISPR analysis has revealed both a previously unreported CRISPR-2 array pattern and a close relationship of Kyrgyz E. amylovora isolates to strains present in Europe and the Middle East. This study presents the first consistent molecular taxonomic characterization of E. amylovora bacteria from Kyrgyzstan.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge receipt of financial support from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under funding ID 01DK17004 (research project BioControl). Saikal Bobushova has been granted an individual research scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; grant number 91692517).

Funding

This study was funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (grant number 01DK17004) and by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (grant number 91692517).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, 56 Chyngyz Aitmatov avenue, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic

    Tinatin Doolotkeldieva, Saikal Bobushova & Mahabat Konurbaeva

  2. Institute for Microbiology and Biochemistry, Geisenheim University, Von-Lade-Str. 1, 65366, Geisenheim, Germany

    Christina Schuster & Andreas Leclerque

  3. Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP), National Research Council (CNR), 80055, Portici, NA, Italy

    Andreas Leclerque

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  1. Tinatin Doolotkeldieva
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  2. Saikal Bobushova
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  3. Christina Schuster
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  4. Mahabat Konurbaeva
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  5. Andreas Leclerque
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Correspondence to Tinatin Doolotkeldieva, Saikal Bobushova or Andreas Leclerque.

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Each of the five authors, namely Tinatin Doolotkeldieva, Saikal Bobushova, Christina Schuster, Mahabat Konurbaeva, and Andreas Leclerque, declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

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Doolotkeldieva, T., Bobushova, S., Schuster, C. et al. Isolation and genetic characterization of Erwinia amylovora bacteria from Kyrgyzstan. Eur J Plant Pathol 155, 677–686 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-019-01790-3

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