Abstract
Bacterial soft rot is a globally significant plant disease that causes major losses in the production of many popular crops, such as potato. Little is known about the dispersal and ecology of soft-rot enterobacteria, and few animals have been identified as vectors for these pathogens. This study investigates whether soil-living and bacterial-feeding nematodes could act as vectors for the dispersal of soft-rot enterobacteria to plants. Soft-rot enterobacteria associated with nematodes were quantified and visualized through bacterial enumeration, GFP-tagging, and confocal and electron scanning microscopy. Soft-rot enterobacteria were able to withstand nematode grazing, colonize the gut of Caenorhabditis elegans and subsequently disperse to plant material while remaining virulent. Two nematode species were also isolated from a rotten potato sample obtained from a potato storage facility in Finland. Furthermore, one of these isolates (Pristionchus sp. FIN-1) was shown to be able to disperse soft-rot enterobacteria to plant material. The interaction of nematodes and soft-rot enterobacteria seems to be more mutualistic rather than pathogenic, but more research is needed to explain how soft-rot enterobacteria remain viable inside nematodes.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 747-757 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Plant Pathology |
Volume | 63 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 16 Dec 2013 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2014 |
Keywords
- Caenorhabditis elegans
- Dispersion of bacterial soft rot
- Mutualism
- Pectobacterium
- Pristionchus
- Rhabditidae
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agronomy and Crop Science
- Genetics
- Plant Science
- Horticulture