Identification of an Antagonistic Bacterium, KJ1R5, for Biological Control of Phytophthora Blight of Pepper

An antagonistic bacterium, KJ1R5,, to Phytophthora capsici was obtained from root interior of a healthy pepper plant. To identify the bacterial antagonist, 16S rDNA sequence analysis, Biolog system, fatty acid methyl-esters (FAMEs), and physiological and biochemical characterization were conducted. The determined 165 rDNA sequence of KJ1R5, showed higher similarities to those of a group consisting of several Chryseobacterium strains with 95.2, 95.2, and 95,1％ similarity to C. defluvii, Chryseobacterium sp. FR2, and C. scophthalmum, respectively, In addition, Halounella gailinarum, Bergeyella zoohelcum, and Riemerella anatipestifer are another group for KJ1R5, with 94.1, 89.7, and 87.2％ similarities, respectively When identification of the antagonistic bacterium, KJ1R5, was conducted using BIOLOG system, the strain KJ1R5, was identified as Flavobacterium tirrenicum (similarity； 0.75％). Fatty acid profiles of the strain KJ1R5, were composed mainly of iso-17：0 w9c and iso-15：0 and identified as Chryseobacterium balustinum (similarity 0.524％). KJ1R5, was Gram-negative, regular short rods ranging from 0.8 $\mu\textrm{m}$ to 1.0 $\mu\textrm{m}$ and had no flagella. Phenotypic characterization of the antagonistic bacterium indicated that KJ1R5, were included in the genus Chreseobacterium, which belongs to the family Flavobacteriaceae. The strain was distinguished from these six existing species. These results indicated that strain might be placed as a new species in the genus Chryseobacterium.