Nykyri, Johanna
- University of Helsinki
Abstract
Bacterial soft rot is a globally significant plant disease that causes major losses in the production of many popular crops, such as potato. Little is known about the dispersal and ecology of soft-rot enterobacteria, and few animals have been identified as vectors for these pathogens. This study investigates whether soil-living and bacterial-feeding nematodes could act as vectors for the dispersal of soft-rot enterobacteria to plants. Soft-rot enterobacteria associated with nematodes were quantified and visualized through bacterial enumeration, GFP-tagging, and confocal and electron scanning microscopy. Soft-rot enterobacteria were able to withstand nematode grazing, colonize the gut of Caenorhabditis elegans and subsequently disperse to plant material while remaining virulent. Two nematode species were also isolated from a rotten potato sample obtained from a potato storage facility in Finland. Furthermore, one of these isolates ( Pristionchus sp. FIN-1) was shown to be able to disperse soft-rot enterobacteria to plant material. The interaction of nematodes and soft-rot enterobacteria seems to be more mutualistic rather than pathogenic, but more research is needed to explain how soft-rot enterobacteria remain viable inside nematodes.
Keywords
Caenorhabditis elegans; dispersion of bacterial soft rot; mutualism; Pectobacterium; Pristionchus; Rhabditidae
Published in
Plant Pathology
2014, volume: 63, number: 4, pages: 747-757
Publisher: WILEY-BLACKWELL
SLU Authors
Pirhonen, Minna
- University of Helsinki
UKÄ Subject classification
Microbiology
Other Agricultural Sciences not elsewhere specified
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.12159
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/84156