• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.431-440
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• 2016

In 2004, bacterial spot-causing xanthomonads (BSX) were reclassified into 4 species-Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, X. vesicatoria, X. perforans, and X. gardneri. Bacterial spot disease on pepper plant in Korea is known to be caused by both X. axonopodis pv. vesicatoria and X. vesicatoria. Here, we reidentified the pathogen causing bacterial spots on pepper plant based on the new classification. Accordingly, 72 pathogenic isolates were obtained from the lesions on pepper plants at 42 different locations. All isolates were negative for pectolytic activity. Five isolates were positive for amylolytic activity. All of the Korean pepper isolates had a 32 kDa-protein unique to X. euvesicatoria and had the same band pattern of the rpoB gene as that of X. euvesicatoria and X. perforans as indicated by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. A phylogenetic tree of 16S rDNA sequences showed that all of the Korean pepper plant isolates fit into the same group as did all the reference strains of X. euvesicatoria and X. perforans. A phylogenetic tree of the nucleotide sequences of 3 housekeeping genes-gapA, gyrB, and lepA showed that all of the Korean pepper plant isolates fit into the same group as did all of the references strains of X. euvesicatoria. Based on the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, we identified the pathogen as X. euvesicatoria. Neither X. vesicatoria, the known pathogen of pepper bacterial spot, nor X. perforans, the known pathogen of tomato plant, was isolated. Thus, we suggest that the pathogen causing bacterial spot disease of pepper plants in Korea is X. euvesicatoria.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.299-309
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• 2024

The rice blast disease, caused by the fungal pathogen, Magnaporthe oryzae (syn. Pyricularia oryzae), poses a significant threat to the global rice production. Understanding how this disease impacts the plant's microbial communities is crucial for gaining insights into host-pathogen interactions. In this study, we investigated the changes in communities of bacterial and fungal endophytes inhabiting different compartments in healthy and diseased plants. We found that both alpha and beta diversities of endophytic communities do not change significantly by the pathogen infection. Rather, the type of plant compartment appeared to be the main driver of endophytic community structures. Although the overall structure seemed to be consistent between healthy and diseased plants, our analysis of differentially abundant taxa revealed the specific bacterial and fungal operational taxonomic units that exhibited enrichment in the root and leaf compartments of infected plants. These findings suggest that endophyte communities are robust to the changes at the early stage of pathogen infection, and that some of endophytes enriched in infected plants might have roles in the defense against the pathogen.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.104-112
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• 2018

Accurate and rapid detection of bacterial plant pathogen is the first step toward disease management and prevention of pathogen spread. Bacterial plant pathogens Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. nebraskensis (Cmn), Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii (Pss), and Rathayibacter tritici (Rt) cause Goss's bacterial wilt and blight of maize, Stewart's wilt of maize and spike blight of wheat and barley, respectively. The bacterial diseases are not globally distributed and not present in Korea. This study adopted comparative genomics approach and aimed to develop specific primer pairs to detect these three bacterial pathogens. Genome comparison among target pathogens and their closely related bacterial species generated 15-20 candidate primer pairs per bacterial pathogen. The primer pairs were assessed by a conventional PCR for specificity against 33 species of Clavibacter, Pantoea, Rathayibacter, Pectobacterium, Curtobacterium. The investigation for specificity and sensitivity of the primer pairs allowed final selection of one or two primer pairs per bacterial pathogens. In our assay condition, a detection limit of Pss and Cmn was $2pg/{\mu}l$ of genomic DNA per PCR reaction, while the detection limit for Rt primers was higher. The selected primers could also detect bacterial cells up to $8.8{\times}10^3cfu$ to $7.84{\times}10^4cfu$ per gram of grain seeds artificially infected with corresponding bacterial pathogens. The primer pairs and PCR assay developed in this study provide an accurate and rapid detection method for three bacterial pathogens of grains, which can be used to investigate bacteria contamination in grain seeds and to ultimately prevent pathogen dissemination over countries.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.79.2-80
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• 2003

To better understand plant defense responses against pathogen attack, we identified the transcription factor-encoding genes in the hot pepper Capsicum annuum that show altered expression patterns during the hypersensitive response raised by challenge with bacterial pathogens. One of these genes, Ca1244, was characterized further. This gene encodes a plant-specific Type IIIA - zinc finger protein that contains two Cys$_2$His$_2$zinc fingers. Ca1244 expression is rapidly and specifically induced when pepper plants are challenged with bacterial pathogens to which they are resistant. In contrast, challenge with a pathogen to which the plants are susceptible only generates weak Ca1244 expression. Ca1244 expression is also strongly induced in pepper leaves by the exogenous application of ethephon, an ethylene releasing compound. Whereas, salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate had moderate effects. Pepper protoplasts expressing a Ca1244-smGFP fusion protein showed Ca1244 localizes in the nucleus. Transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing Ca1244 driven by the CaMV 355 promoter show increased resistance to challenge with a tobacco-specific bacterial pathogen. These plants also showed constitutive upregulation of the expression of multiple defense-related genes. These observations provide the first evidence that an Type IIIA - zinc finger protein, Ca1244, plays a crucial role in the activation of the pathogen defense response in plants.

• Plant Disease and Agriculture
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.111-114
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• 1999

A bacterial disease of rice plant that rotted the sheath to brown was found in rice plants at Tanbuk Uisong Kyungbuk in June 1999, When the bacterial isolates from the diseased rice plants were inoculated to health plant by the artificial needle prick method the same symptoms were examined. According to its characteristics and pathogenicity on the his plant the causal bacterium was identified as Burkholderia glumae which is known as the pathogen of bacterial grain rot of rice.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.393-402
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• 2018

Rice world production is affected due to the growing impact of diseases such as bacterial panicle blight, produced by Burkholderia glumae. The pathogen-induced symptoms include seedling rot, grain rot and leafsheath browning in rice plants. It is currently recognized the entrance of this pathogen to the plant, from infected seeds and from environmental sources of the microorganism. However, it is still not fully elucidated the dynamics and permanence of the pathogen in the plant, from its entry until the development of disease symptoms in seedlings or panicles. In this work it was evaluated the infection of B. glumae rice plants, starting from inoculated seeds and substrates, and its subsequent monitoring after infection. Various organs of the plant during the vegetative stage and until the beginning of the reproductive stage, were evaluated. In both inoculation models, the bacteria was maintained in the plant as an endophyte between $1{\times}10^1$ and $1{\times}10^5cfu$ of B. $glumae.g^{-1}$ of plant throughout the vegetative stage. An increase of bacterial population towards initiation of the panicle was observed, and in the maturity of the grain, an endophyte population was identified in the flag leaf at $1{\times}10^6cfu$ of B. $glumae.g^{-1}$ fresh weight of rice plant, conducting towards the symptoms of bacterial panicle blight. The results found, suggest that B. glumae in rice plants developed from infected seeds or from the substrate, can colonize seedlings, establishing and maintaining a bacterial population over time, using rice plants as habitat to survive endophyticly until formation of bacterial panicle blight symptoms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.71.1-71
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• 2003

Most major plant pathogenic bacteria in Korea belong to Xanthomonas spp.. Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae is a major pathogen in rice, X. campestris pv. vesicatoria in pepper, X. axonopodis pv. giycines in soybean, X. campestris pv. campestris in cabbage, and X. axonoposid pv. citri in tangerin. Host specificity of the bacterial pathogen depends on the avirulence gene in the pathogen and the corresponding resistance gene in host plants. Many avirulence genes in bacteiral pathogen located on the native plasmids. However, the presence of the native plasmids in Xanthomonas spp. was not investigated well. In order to study the host specificity, we isolated native plasmids from Xanthomonas spp. and compared those plasmids each other, The presence of the native plasmids and the characteristics of the plasmids depended on the bacterial strains. In the X. axonopodis pv. glycines, most strains carried native plasmids but some strains did not. Some strains carry about 60 kb native plasmids including 3 different aviurlence genes. We will discuss the characteristics of the native plasmids isolated from the Xanthomonas spp.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.76-89
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• 2007

CaCDPK4, a full-length cDNA clone encoding Capsicum annuum calcium-dependent protein kinase 4, was isolated from chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Deduced amino acid sequence of CaCDPK4 shares the highest homology with tobacco NpCDPK8 and chickpea CaCDPK2 with 79% identity. Genomic blot analyses revealed that CaCDPK4 is present as a single copy in pepper genome, but it belongs to a multigene family. CaCDPK4 was highly induced when pepper plants were inoculated with an incompatible bacterial pathogen. Induced levels of CaCDPK4 transcripts were also detected in pepper leaves by the treatment of ethephon, an ethylene-inducing agent, and high-salt stress condition. The bacterial-expressed GST-CaCDPK4 protein showed to retain the autophosphorylation activity in vitro. GUS expression driven by CaCDPK4 promoter was examined in transgenic Arabidopsis containing transcriptional fusion of CaCDPK4 promoter. GUS expression under CaCDPK4 promoter was strong in the root and veins of the seedlings. GW (-1965) and D3 (-1377) promoters conferred on GUS expression in response to inoculation of an incompatible bacterial pathogen, but D4-GUS (-913) and DS-GUS (-833) did not. Taken together, our results suggest that CaCDPK4 can be implicated on signal transduction pathway of defense response against an incompatible bacterial pathogen in pepper.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.346-359
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• 2018

Xanthomonas oryzae, a bacterial pathogen causing leaf blight disease (BLB) in rice, can cause widespread disease and has caused epidemics globally, resulting in severe crop losses of 50% in Asia. The pathogen is seed-borne and is transmitted through seeds. Thus, control of BLB requires the elimination of the pathogen from seeds. Concern about environment-friendly organic production has spurred improvements in a variety of biological disease control methods, including the use of bacteriophages, against bacterial plant pathogens. The present study explored the potential of bacteriophages isolated from diseased plant leaves and soil samples in killing the bacterial pathogen in rice seeds. Eight different phages were isolated and evaluated for their bacteriolytic activity against different pathogenic X. oryzae strains. Of these, a phage designated ${\varphi}XOF4$ killed all the pathogenic X. oryzae strains and showed the broadest host range. Transmission electron microscopy of ${\varphi}XOF4$ revealed it to be a tailed phage with an icosahedral head. The virus was assigned to the family Siphoviridae, order Caudovirales. Seedlings raised from the seeds treated with $1{\times}10^8pfu/ml$ of ${\varphi}XOF4$ phage displayed reduced incidence of BLB disease and complete bacterial growth inhibition. The findings indicate the potential of the ${\varphi}XOF4$ phage as a potential biological control agent against BLB disease in rice.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.101-114
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• 2004

This study was carried out to clarify the effects of antagonistic microorganism, Bacillus sp. JC181 isolated from the greenhouse soil grown cucumber plants on the growth inhibition of plant pathogen, fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum) occurred in cucumber plants in greenhouse. Antagonistic bacterial strains were isolated and were investigated into the antifungal activity of the antagonistic microorganism against fusarium wilt. Screened fourteen bacterial strains which strongly inhibited F. oxysporum were isolated from thc greenhouse soil grown cucumber plants, and the best antagonistic bacterial strain designated as JC181, was finally selected. Antagonistic bacterial strain JC181 was identified to be the genus Bacillus sp. based on the morphological and biochemical characterization. Bacillus sp. JC181 showed 58.2% of antifungal activity against the plant pathogen growth of F. oxysporum. By the bacterialization of culture broth and heated filtrates of culture broth, Bacterial strain, Bacillus sp. JC181. showed 91.2% and 260% of antifungal activity against F. oxysporum, respectivrly.