Biological Control of Crown Gall

Crown gall of stonefruit and nut trees is one of the very few plant diseases subject to efficient biological control. The disease is caused by the soil-inhabiting bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Agrobacterium rhizogenes and the original control organism was a non-pathogenic isolate of A. rhizogenes strain K84. Control is achieved by dipping planting material in a cell suspension of strain K84 which specifically inhibits pathogenic strains containing a nopaline Ti plasmid. Because the agrocin 84-encoding plasmid (pAgK84) is conjugative, it can be transmitted from the control strain to pathogenic strains which, as a result, become immune to agrocin 84 and cannot be controlled. To prevent this happening, the transfer genes on pAgK84 were located and then largely eliminated by recombinant DNA technology. The resulting construct, strain K1026, is transfer deficient but controls crown gall just as effectively as does strain K84. Field data from Spain confirm that pAgK84 can transfer to pathogenic recipients from strain K84 but not from strain K1026. The latter has been registered in Australia as a pesticide and is the first genetically engineered organism in the world to be released fro commercial use. It is recommended as a replacement for strain K84 to prevent a breakdown in the effectiveness of biological control of crown gall. Several reports indicate that both strains K84 and K1026 sometimes control crown gall pathogens that are resistant to agrocin 84. A possible reason for this is that both strains produce a second antibiotic called 434 which inhibits growth of nearly all isolates of A. rhizogenes, both pathogens and non-pathogens. Crown gall of grapevine is caused by another species, Agrobacterium vitis. It is resistant to agrocin 84 and cannot be controlled by strains K84 or K1026. It is different from other crown gall pathogens in several characteristics, including the fact that, although a rhizosphere coloniser, its also lives systemically in the vascular tissue of grapevine. Pathogen free propagating material can be obtained from tissue culture or, less surely, by heat therapy of dormant cuttings. A number of laboratories are searching for a biocontrol strain that will prevent, or at least delay, reinfection. A non-pathogenic A. vitis strain F/25 from South Africa looks very promising in this regard.