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Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense and Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum as causal agents of potato soft rot in Algeria

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Abstract

During surveys carried out in 2014 and 2015 in Algerian potato fields, severe bacterial tuber soft rot was observed. Twenty-one Gram-negative pectinolytic bacterial isolates were obtained from diseased potato tubers. These induced a hypersensitive reaction and soft rot symptoms when inoculated in tobacco leaves and potato tubers, respectively. PCR amplification using the Y1/Y2 primers demonstrated that all of the bacterial isolates belonged to the genus Pectobacterium. Phylogenetic analysis using partial malate dehydrogenase (mdh) gene sequences revealed that six and 15 isolates grouped with Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense and Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum reference strains, respectively. Multilocus sequence analysis of concatenated partial sequences of the acnA, atpD, gyrB and infB genes carried out on selected bacterial isolates confirmed the results obtained with the mdh gene sequences. PCR amplification with the BR1f/L1r primers that are specific for P. carotovorum subsp. brasiliense confirmed that six of the Algerian isolates belonged to this taxon.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Luca Bonciarelli (Perugia University), Mekhaneg, and all of the staff members of the Regional Station of Plant Protection (Chlef, Algeria) for technical assistance. This study was supported financially by DSA3 research funds to CM and RB, and by MESRS DGRDT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Genomics and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, Hassiba Benbouali University of Chlef, BP. 151, 02000, Chlef, Algeria

    Hiba Naas & Mohammed Sebaihia

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali (DSA3), Università di Perugia, Via Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121, Perugia, Italy

    Benedetta Orfei, Roberto Buonaurio & Chiaraluce Moretti

  3. Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Research Group, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), 8820, Wädenswil, Switzerland

    Fabio Rezzonico

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  1. Hiba Naas
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Naas, H., Sebaihia, M., Orfei, B. et al. Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense and Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum as causal agents of potato soft rot in Algeria. Eur J Plant Pathol 151, 1027–1034 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-018-1438-3

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