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Characterization of Pectobacterium species from Iran using biochemical and molecular methods

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Abstract

Characteristics of forty strains from macerated potato tubers and water-soaked lesions of some ornamental plants were studied in north parts of Iran. The causal organisms isolated from infected tissues were identified as Pectobacterium spp. based on their physiological and biochemical assays and confirmed by species and subspecies specific PCR and RFLP analysis of 16S–23S intergenic transcribed spacer region. Artificial inoculation of isolates to their related hosts generated the same symptoms on potato and ornamental plants, from which the same bacteria were isolated and identified. We detected two groups of atypical isolates in this study. The first group from potato classified as Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum by phenotypic tests but was unable to elicit HR on tobacco leaves, to grow at 37°C and to amplify the pel gene relevant to this subspecies. The second one from ornamental plants which was again characterized as Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum in biochemical assays, produced a unique ITS-RFLP profile different from all of known Pectobacterium species and subspecies. Our findings based on phylogenetic analysis using concatenated partial sequences of housekeeping genes mdh and gapA, indicated the occurrence of P. wasabiae as a novel species in potato storage in Iran. Furthermore we detected a distinct clade of Pectobacterium spp. from some ornamental plants including Schlumbergera bridgesii, Syngonium podophyllum and Iris spp.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran and Spanish plan nacional I+D+I, grant AGL-2009-12757.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Pajohesh Blvd. Tehran-Karaj Highway, 17th Km, 14115-336, Tehran, Iran

    Sareh Baghaee-Ravari & Masoud Shams-Bakhsh

  2. Department of Plant Protection, Agriculture and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran

    Heshmat Rahimian

  3. Centro de Biotecnologia y Genomica de Plantas (CBGP), Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Campus Montegancedo, UPM, Autovia M-40, Salida 38N, 36S, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcon, Madrid, Spain

    Emilia Lopez-Solanilla, María Antúnez-Lamas & Pablo Rodríguez-Palenzuela

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  1. Sareh Baghaee-Ravari
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  2. Heshmat Rahimian
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  6. Pablo Rodríguez-Palenzuela
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Correspondence to Pablo Rodríguez-Palenzuela.

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Baghaee-Ravari, S., Rahimian, H., Shams-Bakhsh, M. et al. Characterization of Pectobacterium species from Iran using biochemical and molecular methods. Eur J Plant Pathol 129, 413–425 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-010-9704-z

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