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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #355464
Research Project: Urban Small Farms and Gardens Pest Management

Location: Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory

Title: Chromobacterium phragmitis sp. nov., an insecticidal bacterium isolated from estuarine marshes

Author
item Blackburn, Michael - Mike
item Farrar, Robert
item Sparks, Michael
item Kuhar, Daniel
item Mowery, Joseph
item Mitchell, Ashaki - Teddi
item Gundersen-Rindal, Dawn

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/23/2019
Publication Date: 6/14/2019
Citation: Blackburn, M.B., Farrar, R.R., Sparks, M., Kuhar, D.J., Mowery, J.D., Mitchell, A.D., Gundersen, D.E. 2019. Chromobacterium phragmitis sp. nov., an insecticidal bacterium isolated from estuarine marshes. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.003508.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.003508

Interpretive Summary: A new species of insect-killing bacteria has been described from freshwater tidal marshes along the Potomac and James Rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The new bacterium produces natural products that are toxic to immature stages of beetles, moths and flies. The new bacteria will be of interest to organic growers, companies that produce natural insecticides for the organic market, and scientists prospecting for new species of bacteria for use in biological insect control.

Technical Abstract: Thirteen isolates of Gram-negative, motile, violet-pigmented bacteria were isolated from marshes along the tidal portions of the Potomac and James rivers in Maryland and Virginia, USA. 16S rRNA gene sequences and fatty acid analysis (FAME) revealed a high degree of relatedness among the isolates, and genomic sequencing of two isolates, IIBBL 112-1T and IIBBL 274-1 (from the Potomac and James rivers, respectively), revealed highly similar genomic sequences, with a blast-based average nucleotide identity (ANIb) of 98.7%. A phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences suggested that the most highly related known species were Chromobacterium vaccinii, C. piscinae, and C. violaceum. Whole genome alignments between IIBBL 112-1T or IIBBL 274-1 and C. vaccinii or C. violaceum resulted in ANIb values of 86.2% and 86.5%, respectively. Collectively, these data demonstrate that IIBBL 112-1T and IIBBL 274-1 represent a new taxon within the genus Chromobacterium. We propose the name Chromobacterium phragmitis sp. nov. for this taxon; the type strain is IIBBL 112-1T (= NRRL B-67132T = JCM 31884T).