Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #380864
Research Project: Detection, Identification, and Characterization of New and Emerging Viral and Bacterial Diseases of Ornamental Plants

Location: Floral and Nursery Plants Research

Title: A new Streptomyces scabies-infecting bacteriophage from Egypt with promising biocontrol traits

Author
item ABDELRHIM, ABDELRAZEK - Minia University
item OMAR, MAHA - Minia University
item HAMMAD, ADEL - Minia University
item AHMAD, ABDELMONIM - Minia University
item Huang, Qi

Submitted to: Archives of Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/26/2021
Publication Date: 3/29/2021
Citation: Abdelrhim, A.S., Omar, M.O., Hammad, A.M., Ahmad, A.A., Huang, Q. 2021. A new Streptomyces scabies-infecting bacteriophage from Egypt with promising biocontrol traits. Archives Of Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-021-02415-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-021-02415-2

Interpretive Summary: Potato scab disease caused by the bacterium Streptomyces scabies is one of the most economically important diseases affecting potato. It reduces the quality of potato tubers, which subsequently decreases the tuber prices and causes significant economic losses for potato growers. Scientist in Egypt discovered a virus, or phage, in the soil of a potato field that can kill this bacterium. Working with an ARS scientist, they purified and characterized the phage, determined its nucleotide and amino acid sequences, and explored its potential as a biocontrol against the disease. They found that potato tubers treated with this phage showed reduced severity of scab, number of lesions, and the percentage of lesion surface, as compared to the tubers without phage treatment. This research has led to a better understanding of the virus and to potentially new strategies for developing effective control of this important bacterial disease.

Technical Abstract: Potato common scab caused by Streptomyces scabies is one of the most economically important diseases infecting potato. It reduces the quality of potato tubers, which subsequently decreases the tuber prices and causes significant economic losses for potato growers. Biological control using bacteriophages is a promising strategy for controlling this disease. In this study, a novel bacteriophage with high lytic efficacy against S. scabies was isolated from a potato field at Al-Minya, Egypt, and was designated SscP1EGY. The phage has an icosahedral head of 52 nm and a short tail of 10 nm, typical of a podovirus. The genome of SscP1EGY consists 52,751 nucleotides with 76 predicted genes. SscP1EGY infected and completely lysed seven tested S. scabies strains, but showed no lytic activity against other plant pathogenic bacteria nor beneficial bacterial strains. In greenhouse experiments, treatment of S. scabies-inoculated potato tubers with phage SscP1EGY reduced the severity of scab, number of lesions and the percentage of lesion surface, as compared to the inoculated tubers without phage treatment. Also, scab lesions appeared superficial in phage-treated tubers but pitted in non-phage-treated tubers. Our results suggest that SscP1EGY has a potential as a biological control agent for S. scabies. Based on our knowledge, SscP1EGY is the first sequenced S. scabies-infecting phage in Egypt.