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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #405178
Research Project: Detection, Biology, and Genomics of New and Emerging Viral and Bacterial Diseases of Ornamental Plants

Location: Floral and Nursery Plants Research

Title: Letter to the Editor: The Ralstonia research community rejects the proposal to classify phylotype I Ralstonia into the new species Ralstonia nicotianae

Author
item LOWE-POWER, TIFFANY - University Of California, Davis
item SHARMA, PARUL - Virginia Tech
item ALVAREZ, BELEN - University Of Valencia
item ARIF, MOHAMMAD - University Of Hawaii
item BOCSANCZY, ANA MARIA - University Of Florida
item FRIMAN, VILLE-PETRI - University Of York
item GENIN, STEPHANE - University Of Toulouse
item GONZALEZ BIOSCA, ELENA - University Of Valencia
item GUIDOT, ALICE - University Of Toulouse
item HIKICHI, YASUFUMI - Kochi University
item Huang, Qi
item RAY, JANE - University Of Queensland
item SCHOMER, REBECCA - University Of Arizona
item VINATZER, BORIS - Virginia Tech
item ALLEN, CAITLYN - University Of Wisconsin

Submitted to: PhytoFrontiers
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/13/2023
Publication Date: 6/21/2023
Citation: Lowe-Power, T., Sharma, P., Alvarez, B., Arif, M., Bocsanczy, A., Friman, V., Genin, S., Gonzalez Biosca, E., Guidot, A., Hikichi, Y., Huang, Q., Ray, J., Schomer, R., Vinatzer, B., Allen, C. 2023. Letter to the Editor: The Ralstonia research community rejects the proposal to classify phylotype I Ralstonia into the new species Ralstonia nicotianae. PhytoFrontiers. 13 pages.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is a group of globally important plant pathogens. Bacteria in this very large and genetically diverse group all colonize the xylem elements of angiosperm plants and cause high-impact wilting diseases of many crops. Because they threaten economic and food security, several RSSC subgroups are strictly regulated as quarantine pests (See “Regulation” section of References refs will be added Regulation (EU) 2016/2031). Biologically meaningful and consistent nomenclature is essential for organisms that have major economic and regulatory importance like plant pathogenic Ralstonia. There are currently three species of Ralstonia wilt pathogens: R. pseudosolanacearum (corresponding to two phylogenetic groups that are described in the literature as phylotypes I and III), R. solanacearum (phylotypes IIA, IIB, and IIC), and R. syzygii (phylotype IV, containing three subspecies: subsp. syzygii, subsp. celebensis, and subsp. indonesiensis). A recent paper proposed re-classifying phylotype I as a new species named “Ralstonia nicotianae” (Liu et al. 2023). The purpose of this commentary is to register our objection to the taxon “Ralstonia nicotianae”.