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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #317057
Title: Draft genome sequence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’ strain CX, a plant pathogenic bacterium

Author
item Lee, Ing Ming
item Shao, Jonathan
item Bottner, Kristi
item Gundersen-Rindal, Dawn
item Zhao, Yan
item Davis, Robert

Submitted to: Genome Announcements
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/11/2015
Publication Date: 10/1/2015
Citation: Lee, I., Shao, J.Y., Bottner-Parker, K.D., Gundersen, D.E., Zhao, Y., Davis, R.E. 2015. Draft genome sequence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’ strain CX, a plant pathogenic bacterium. Genome Announcements. 3(5):e01117-15. doi: 10.1128/genomeA.01117-15.

Interpretive Summary: Phytoplasmas are cell wall-less plant pathogenic bacteria, which infect more than 1000 plant species and cause numerous economically important diseases. There is a vast number of diverse phytoplasma strains that are distributed on all continents. Because of the inability to cultivate them readily in cell-free media, provisional Genus ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma’ and ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma spp.’ were proposed to accommodate their classification. For finer classification of phytoplasmas, a scheme was proposed based on RFLP analysis of 16S rRNA sequences that, thus far, includes 32 16S ribosomal (16Sr) groups and more that 200 subgroups. Group 16SrIII represents one of the most diverse groups. ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’ strain CX belongs to subgroup 16SrIII-A, which causes severe decline diseases of many stone fruit trees. In order to understand phytoplasma pathogenicity, genomic sequencing of phytoplasmas has been carried out, but thus far, few phytoplasma genomes have been fully sequenced. In the present communication, we present a draft genome sequence of phytoplasma strain CX, the cause of peach X-disease. The availability of strain CX draft genome sequence will facilitate the identification of specific genomic features responsible for the pathogenicity of CX and related phytoplasma strains. This information will aid disease control and will interest graduate students and scientists.

Technical Abstract: ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’ strain CX, belonging to subgroup 16SrIII-A, is a plant pathogenic bacterium causing economically important diseases in many fruit crops. Here we report the draft genome sequence that consists of 598,508 bases, with a G+C content of 27.21 mol%.