Bacterial gall of Loropetalum chinense caused by Pseudomonas amygdali pv. loropetali pv. nov.

Carrie Lapaire Harmon, Sujan Timilsina, John Bonkowski, Debra D. Jones, Xiaoan Sun, Gary E. Vallad, Laura Ramos Sepulveda, Carolee Bull, Jeffrey B. Jones

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

In 2012, stem gall samples on Loropetalum chinense were sent to Florida diagnostic labs from Alabama and Florida nurseries. A fluorescent pseudomonad was consistently isolated from the galls. The organism was originally identified in Alabama based on 16S rRNA sequencing as Pseudomonas savastanoi, which causes a production-limiting disease of olive. The loropetalum strains and reference strains were compared using LOPAT, Biolog, fatty acid analysis, multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), and pathogenicity tests. The LOPAT tests placed the loropetalum strains within Pseudomonas syringae. Biolog and fatty acid analysis placed the strains in various pathovars of P. syringae and P. savastanoi, respectively. MLSA of a set of housekeeping genes separated the loropetalum strains from the olive knot-inducing strains. Our work indicates there is a need to use more tests than 16S rRNA to accurately diagnose new bacterial diseases. In pathogenicity tests, the loropetalum strains produced galls only on loropetalum, but not on olive, mandevilla, or almond, indicating this strain is not a threat to the olive industry. Based on the pathogenicity assays and molecular tests, loropetalum strains represent a distinct and new pathovar, P. amygdali pv. loropetali pv. nov., for which the strain PDC13-208 (= DSMZ 105780PT) has been designated as the pathotype strain.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)799-806
Number of pages8
JournalPlant disease
Volume102
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2018

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Plant Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Bacterial gall of Loropetalum chinense caused by Pseudomonas amygdali pv. loropetali pv. nov.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this