Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2013) 79, 6016-6022

Neil Parkinson, Ruth Bryant, Janice Bew, Christine Conyers, Robert Stones, Michael Alcock and John Elphinstone (2013)
Application of variable-number tandem-repeat typing to discriminate Ralstonia solanacearum strains associated with English watercourses and disease outbreaks
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 79 (19), 6016-6022
Abstract: Variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) analysis was used for high-resolution discrimination among Ralstonia solanacearum phylotype IIB sequevar 1 (PIIB-1) isolates and further evaluated for use in source tracing. Five tandem-repeat-containing loci (comprising six tandem repeats) discriminated 17 different VNTR profiles among 75 isolates from potato, geranium, bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara), tomato, and the environment. R. solanacearum isolates from crops at three unrelated outbreak sites where river water had been used for irrigation had distinct VNTR profiles that were shared with PIIB-1 isolates from infected bittersweet growing upriver of each site. The VNTR profiling results supported the implication that the source of R. solanacearum at each outbreak was contaminated river water. Analysis of 51 isolates from bittersweet growing in river water at different locations provided a means to evaluate the technique for studying the epidemiology of the pathogen in the environment. Ten different VNTR profiles were identified among bittersweet PIIB-1 isolates from the River Thames. Repeated findings of contiguous river stretches that produced isolates that shared single VNTR profiles supported the hypothesis that the pathogen had disseminated from infected bittersweet plants located upriver. VNTR profiles shared between bittersweet isolates from two widely separated Thames tributaries (River Ray and River Colne) suggested they were independently contaminated with the same clonal type. Some bittersweet isolates had VNTR profiles that were shared with potato isolates collected outside the United Kingdom. It was concluded that VNTR profiling could contribute to further understanding of R. solanacearum epidemiology and assist in control of future disease outbreaks.
(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): John Elphinstone

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes
population dynamics/ epidemiology

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Ralstonia solanacearum	Potato (Solanum tuberosum)	United Kingdom
	Ralstonia solanacearum	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)	United Kingdom
	Ralstonia solanacearum	Solanum (crop)	United Kingdom
	Ralstonia solanacearum	Geranium (crop)	United Kingdom