Tracking the dissemination of Erwinia amylovora in the Eurasian continent using a PCR targeted on the duplication of a single CRISPR spacer

Phytopathology Research

Nataliya Drenova¹  Alexander L. Lagonenko²  Richard A. Gottsberger³  Simon Carnal⁴  Mirjam Kurz⁴  Theo H. M. Smits⁵  Fabio Rezzonico⁵  Milan Ivanović⁶  Mila Grahovac⁷  Galiya Zharmukhamedova⁸  Mery Dafny-Yelin⁹  Orly Mairesse^1,10  Tinatin Doolotkeldieva^1,11 

[1] All-Russian Plant Quarantine Centre, Pogranichnaya Street 32, Bykovo, Ramenskoe, 140150, Moscow, Russia;Department of Molecular Biology, Biology Faculty, Belarusian State University, 220030, Minsk, Belarus;Dept. for Molecular Diagnostics of Plant Diseases, AGES, Institute for Sustainable Plant Production, Spargelfeldstr. 191, 1220, Vienna, Austria;Environmental Genomics and System Biology Research Group, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Campus Grüental, 8820, Wädenswil, Switzerland;Environmental Genomics and System Biology Research Group, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Campus Grüental, 8820, Wädenswil, Switzerland;Plant Protection Division, Agroscope, CH-8820, Wädenswil, Switzerland;Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, 11080, Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia;Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, 21000, Novi Sad, Serbia;Kazakh Institute of Horticulture & Viticulture Kazakhstan, 238/5 Gagarin Street, 050060, Almaty, Kazakhstan;Northern Agriculture Research & Development, Migal - Galilee Technology Center, P.O.B. 831, 11016, Kiryat Shemona, Israel;Northern Agriculture Research & Development, Migal - Galilee Technology Center, P.O.B. 831, 11016, Kiryat Shemona, Israel;Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, 12208, Kiryat Shemona, Israel;Plant Protection Department, Kyrgyz – Turkish Manas University, Campus of Chingiz, 720044, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan;

关键词: Population genetics;    Founder genotype;    Central Asia;    Wild apple forest;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s42483-021-00096-9

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Fire blight is the most devastating disease affecting pome fruit production globally. The pathogen is native to North America and was imported to western Europe in the 1950s, progressively spreading over the continent in the ensuing decades. Previous phylogenetic studies have revealed the extreme genetic homogeneity of the pathogen outside its center of origin, which makes epidemiological studies difficult. These are generally only possible using hypervariable regions of the genome such as those represented by CRISPRs (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), which are, however, not practical to sequence due to their size and variability. Here, we present a simple PCR assay targeting the duplication of a single CRISPR spacer in Erwinia amylovora that was found to be an important marker to discriminate between two main European populations of the pathogen. We implemented the assay on a total of 582 isolates to follow the spread of fire blight across the continent over several decades and, wherever possible, within single countries. The results obtained point to the occurrence of two major separate introduction events for E. amylovora in Europe that occurred approximately 20 years apart, and confirmed the existence of two principal distribution areas located in Northeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean Basin from which the pathogen moved on to colonize the Eurasian continent.

【 授权许可】

CC BY