• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.313-322
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• 2022

Seed-borne pathogens in crops reduce the seed germination rate and hamper seedling growth, leading to significant yield loss. Due to the growing concerns about environmental damage and the development of resistance to agrochemicals among pathogen populations, there is a strong demand for eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic chemicals in agriculture. It has been well established during the last few decades that plant seeds harbor diverse microbes, some of which are vertically transmitted and important for plant health and productivity. In this study, we isolated culturable endophytic bacteria and fungi from soybean seeds and evaluated their antagonistic activities against common bacterial and fungal seed-borne pathogens of soybean. A total of 87 bacterial isolates and 66 fungal isolates were obtained. Sequencing of 16S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer amplicon showed that these isolates correspond to 30 and 15 different species of bacteria and fungi, respectively. Our antibacterial and antifungal activity assay showed that four fungal species and nine bacterial species have the potential to suppress the growth of at least one seed-borne pathogen tested in the study. Among them, Pseudomonas koreensis appears to have strong antagonistic activities across all the pathogens. Our collection of soybean seed endophytes would be a valuable resource not only for studying biology and ecology of seed endophytes but also for practical deployment of seed endophytes toward crop protection.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.417-429
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• 2023

Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is a soil borne plant pathogen causing bacterial wilt on various important crops, including Solanaceae plants. The bacterial pathogens within the RSSC produce exopolysaccharide (EPS), a highly complicated nitrogencontaining heteropolymeric polysaccharide, as a major virulence factor. However, the biosynthetic pathway of the EPS in the RSSC has not been fully characterized. To identify genes in EPS production beyond the EPS biosynthetic gene operon, we selected the EPS-defective mutants of R. pseudosolanacearum strain SL341 from Tn5-inserted mutant pool. Among several EPSdefective mutants, we identified a mutant, SL341P4, with a Tn5-insertion in a gene encoding a putative NDP-sugar epimerase, a putative membrane protein with sugar-modifying moiety, in a reverse orientation to EPS biosynthesis gene cluster. This protein showed similar to other NDP-sugar epimerases involved in EPS biosynthesis in many phytopathogens. Mutation of the NDP-sugar epimerase gene reduced EPS production and biofilm formation in R. pseudosolanacearum. Additionally, the SL341P4 mutant exhibited reduced disease severity and incidence of bacterial wilt in tomato plants compared to the wild-type SL341 without alteration of bacterial multiplication. These results indicate that the NDP-sugar epimerase gene is required for EPS production and bacterial virulence in R. pseudosolanacearum.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.296-300
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• 2005

Among the root colonizing and plant growth promoting bacteria isolated from the bacterial wilt suppressive soil, five strains were detected to produce siderophores by CAS agar assay. The most effective isolate, TS3-7 strain induced significant suppression of bacterial wilt disease in tomato and pepper plants. Seed treatment followed by soil drench application with this strain resulted in over 80% reduction of bacterial wilt disease compared with the control. Significant disease suppression by TS3-7 strain was related to the production of siderophore. Besides iron competition, induction of resistance of the host plant with siderophore was suggested to be another mode of action that suppress bacterial wilt, based on the lack of direct antibiosis against pathogen in vitro. According to Bergey's Manual of Systemic Bacteriology and 16S rDNA sequence data, TS3-7 stain was identified as Pseudomonas sp. TS3-7.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.314-317
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• 2006

A phage technique for detection of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, a causal bacterium of canker on Sastuma mandarin fruits was developed. Phage and ELISA techniques were compared for their sensitivity for detection of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri on orange fruits. Both of techniques revealed a similar efficiency for the bacterial detection; the pathogenic bacteria were observed in pellet from the fruits with over one canker spot with below 2 mm in diameter. In field assays, the increase of phage population(120%) on surface of the fruits related to the disease development one month later indicated that the bacterial pathogens inhabit on the surface. The procedure will be effectively used for detection of only living bacterial pathogen on fruit surfaces of Satsuma mandarin and for the disease forecasting.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.446-450
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• 2013

The ascomycete fungus Fusarium graminearum is a major causal agent for Fusarium head blight in cereals and produces mycotoxins such as trichothecenes and zearalenone. Isolation of the fungal strains from air or cereals can be hampered by various other airborne fungal pathogens and saprophytic fungi. In this study, we developed a selective medium specific to F. graminearum using toxoflavin produced by the bacterial pathogen Burkholderia glumae. F. graminearum was resistant to toxoflavin, while other fungi were sensitive to this toxin. Supplementing toxoflavin into medium enhanced the isolation of F. graminearum from rice grains by suppressing the growth of saprophytic fungal species. In addition, a medium with or without toxoflavin exposed to wheat fields for 1 h had 84% or 25%, respectively, of colonies identified as F. graminearum. This selection medium provides an efficient tool for isolating F. graminearum, and can be adopted by research groups working on genetics and disease forecasting.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.311-320
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• 2016

Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines (Xag) is a necrotrophic bacterial pathogen of the soybean that causes bacterial pustules and is a nonhost pathogen of the chili pepper. In the current study, chili pepper fruit wound inoculated in planta with Xag 8ra formed necrotic lesions on the fruit surface and induced several structural and chemical barriers systemically in the fruit tissue. The initial defense response included programmed cell death of necrotizing and necrotized cells, which was characterized by nuclear DNA cleavage, as detected by TUNEL-confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and phosphatidylserine exposure on cell walls distal to the infection site, as detected by Annexin V FLUOS-CLSM. These two responses may facilitate cell killing and enhance transportation of cell wall materials used for cell wall thickening, respectively. The cells beneath the necrotic tissue were enlarged and divided to form periclinal cell walls, resulting in extensive formation of several parallel boundary layers at the later stages of infection, accompanying the deposition of wall fortification materials for strengthening structural defenses. These results suggest that nonhost resistance of chili pepper fruit against the nonhost necrotrophic pathogen Xag 8ra is activated systematically from the initial infection until termination of the infection cycle, resulting in complete inhibition of bacterial pathogenesis by utilizing organspecific in situ physiological events governed by the expression of genes in the plant fruit organ.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.352-360
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• 2009

The potential of three plants extracts, to protect potato plants against bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum was determined under greenhouse and field conditions. All soil drenching treatments of aqueous plant extracts of Hibsicus sabdariffa, Punica granatum and Eucalyptus globulus significantly reduced the disease severity compared with inoculated control. Although the applications of all three plant extracts resulted in similar reductions of disease severity in field up 63.23 to 68.39%, treatment of E. globulus leaf extract was found greater in restricting the symptom development than other the two plant extracts in the greenhouse. More than 94% reduction in the bacterial wilt symptom was observed in potato plants. All tested plant extracts were effective in inhibiting the growth of bacterial pathogen, not only in vitro, but also in stem of potato plants as compared with the inoculated control Potato plants treated with extract of H. sabdariffa reduced bacterial growth more effectively than treatment with P. granatum and E. globulus. Activity of defence-related enzymes, including peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase and phenylalanine ammonia lyase, were significantly increased in plants treated with the plant extracts compared to the control during the experimental period. In general, the higher enzymes activities were determined in both inoculated and non-inoculated treated potato plants after 8 days from plant extracts treatment. These results suggested that these plant extracts may be play an important role in controlling the potato bacterial wilt disease, through they have antimicrobial activity and induction of systemic resistance in potato plants.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.2 s.82
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• pp.235-240
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• 2007

AvrRpt2 protein triggers hypersensitive response (HR) and strong disease resistance when it is translocated from a bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas sp. to host plant cells containing a cognate RPS2 resistance protein through Type III Secretion System (TTSS). However, AvrRpt2 protein can function as the effector that suppresses a basal defense and enhances the disease symptom when functional RPS2 resistance protein is absent in the infected plant cells. Using Affymetrix Arabidopsis DNA chip, we found that many genes were specifically regulated by AvrRpt2 protein in the rps2 Arabidopsis mutant. Here, we showed that expression of AtERF11 that is known as a member of B1a subcluster of AP2/ERF transcription factor family was down regulated specifically by AvrRpt2. To determine its function in plant resistance, we also generated the Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic plants constitutively overexpressing AtERF11 under CaMV 355 promoter, which conferred an enhanced resistance against a bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Thus, these results collectively suggest that AtERF11 plays a role as a positive regulator for disease resistance against biotrophic bacterial pathogen in plant.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.357-360
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• 2008

Several pathotypes have been recognized in citrus bacterial canker, which causing serious damage in citrus cultivation area. To control the disease, it is important to understand the pathological diversity and reason of difference in virulence of the causal pathogen. We analyzed 124 strains of Xanthomonas causing citrus bacterial canker by southern hybridization with an internal 3.4-kb BamHI fragment from pthA gene. Assuming each band represented an intact gene, each strain of Xanthomonas was estimated to have approximately 1 to 4 copies of pthA gene. X. a. pv. citri A type had more than 3 copies of pthA gene, and the number of pthA gene in X. a. pv. citri $A^*,\;A^w$, and X. a. pv. aurantifolii B, C were different from 1 to 3 according to the strains. When the pthA gene profile was classified into 13 groups according to the number and size of hybridization bands, most of the A types belong to the 3A group, and 4A and 4B type was dominant when they had 4 bands. However, there was no general pattern of difference between the virulence and pthA gene group in this test.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.362.4-362
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• 2001