Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #356306
Research Project: Integrated Disease Management of Exotic and Emerging Plant Diseases of Horticultural Crops

Location: Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit

Title: Contribution of native plasmids to fitness and fire blight biocontrol efficacy of Pantoea vagans strain C9-1

Author
item KLEIN, JEANNIE - University Of Florida
item JOHNSON, KENNETH - Oregon State University
item LOPER, JOYCE - Oregon State University
item Stockwell, Virginia

Submitted to: International Congress of Plant Pathology Abstracts and Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/27/2018
Publication Date: 7/25/2018
Citation: Klein, J.M., Johnson, K.B., Loper, J.E., Stockwell, V.O. 2018. Contribution of native plasmids to fitness and fire blight biocontrol efficacy of Pantoea vagans strain C9-1. Abstract for International Congress of Plant Pathology: Plant Health in A Global Economy; 2018 July 29-Aug 3; Boston, MA

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Pantoea vagans strain C9-1 is a registered biocontrol agent for fire blight of pear and apple caused by Erwinia amylovora. C9-1 suppresses growth of E. amylovora on stigmas via competition and antibiosis, aided by gene products encoded on its three native megaplasmids. pPag3 is a member of the Large Pantoea Plasmid (LPP-1) plasmid group and was proposed to play a critical role in environmental fitness. We cured C9-1 of two plasmids: pPag2 (166 kb), pPag3 (530 kb), and both pPag2 and pPag3, and evaluated colonization and survival of C9-1 and derivatives from bloom to fruit harvest. In experimental orchards, loss of pPag2 and/or pPag3 did not affect establishment, growth, or survival on apple and pear flowers through petal fall compared to the wild type C9-1. Loss of pPag2 did not affect survival on fruit. However, population sizes of C9-1 lacking pPag3 were lower than C9-1 on apple fruit in two of five trials. We conducted disease efficacy trials with C9-1 and a derivative lacking pPag3. C9-1 cured of pPag3 reduced the incidence of disease to levels similar to the wild-type C9-1. Overall, loss of pPag3 (LPP-1) did not reduce epiphytic fitness on apple and pear flowers or affect C9-1's ability to reduce disease incidence; nonetheless, C9-1 derivatives without pPag3 occasionally exhibited reduced survival on maturing fruit, approximately one month after application to flowers.