FEMS Microbiology Ecology (2016) 92 (1 - fiv146)

Caroline Guilbaud, Cindy E. Morris, Mohamed Barakat, Philippe Ortet and Odile Berge (2016)
Isolation and identification of Pseudomonas syringae facilitated by a PCR targeting the whole P. syringae group
FEMS Microbiology Ecology 92 (1 - fiv146)
Abstract: We present a reliable PCR-based method to avoid the biases related to identification based on the conventional phenotypes currently used in the identification of Pseudomonas syringae sensu lato, a ubiquitous environmental bacterium including plant pathogens. We identified a DNA target suitable for this purpose by applying a comparative genomic pipeline to Pseudomonas genomes. We designed primers and developed PCR conditions that led to a clean and strong PCR product from 97% of the 185 strains of P. syringae strains tested and gave a clear negative result for the 31 non-P. syringae strains tested. The sensitivity of standard PCR was determined with pure strains to be 10⁶ bacteria mL^-1 or 0.4 ng of DNA μL^-1. Sensitivity could be improved with the touchdown method. The new PCR-assisted isolation of P. syringae was efficient when deployed on an environmental sample of river water as compared to the isolation based on phenotypes. This innovation eliminates the need for extensive expertise in isolating P. syringae colonies, was simpler, faster and very reliable. It will facilitate discovery of more diversity of P. syringae and research on emergence, dispersion and evolution to understand the varied functions of this environmental bacterium.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Odile Berge, Cindy E. Morris

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Pseudomonas syringae