THE USE OF 16S AND 16S-23S RRNA INTERNAL TRANSCRIBED SPACERS TO DETECT AND DIFFERENTIATE ERWINIA AMYLOVORA

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify spacer regions between the 16S and 23S genes as well as a portion of the 23S gene in the rRNA genetic loci of epiphytic and phytopathogenic bacteria commonly found in commercial fruit orchards.
Isolates of Erwinia amylovora, E. herbicola, Pseudomonas syringae and Agrobacterium tumefaciens exhibited differences in the size of the amplified 23S DNA fragments and their Eco RI restriction patterns which can readily be used to distinguish these bacteria at the species level.
Additionally, this study demonstrated that amplified patterns of 16S/23S intergenic spacer regions can be used to differentiate between the E. amylovora wild type isolates at the intraspecies level.
Isolates of E. amylovora obtained from infected raspberries produced 4 PCR fragments, while those obtained from infected apples or pears showed as many as 6 amplified DNA bands.
These data show that simple PCR amplification of the 16S/23S rRNA gene can be used for subspecies identification of E. amylovora.

VIII International Workshop on Fire Blight

R.S. Jeng, L. Beliaeva, M. Hubbes, A.M. Svircev, A.L. Myers

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.489.4