Variation among Strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vasculorum from Mauritius and other Countries Based on Fatty Acid Analysis

• Published in: Systematic and applied microbiology 2000-04, Vol.23 (1), p.148-155
• Main Authors: Dookun, Asha, Stead, David E., Autrey, L. Jean-Claude
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacterial plant pathogens; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; fatty acids; Fatty Acids - analysis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gumming disease; Indian Ocean Islands; Mauritius; Microbiology; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Plant Diseases - microbiology; Plants, Edible - microbiology; Reunion; strain variation; sugarcane; Systematics. Structure, properties and multiplication. Genetics; Xanthomonas campestris - chemistry; Xanthomonas campestris - classification; Xanthomonas campestris pv. vasculorum; Xanthomonas campestris vasculorum
• ISSN: 0723-2020; 1618-0984
• DOI: 10.1016/S0723-2020(00)80056-9

Fatty acid profiling was used to study variation amongst strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vasculorum (Xcv). They could be divided into five groups using cellular fatty acid profiles. Group A strains represent a new and little known taxon and all came from plants of broom bamboo (Thysanolaena maxima) from Mauritius. Group B strains included the Xcv pathotype reference strain and were from palms, broom bamboo and sugarcane from Mauritius, Réunion and Australia. Group C contained southern African and Malagasy strains from sugarcane and maize, together with X. campestris pv. holcicola strain. No Mascarene strains fell into this group. Group D strains isolated from sugarcane, maize and royal palm (Roystonea regia) were from Mauritius and Réunion, the earliest known strains coming from Réunion. These groups represented in the Mascarene Islands possibly belong to three different Xanthomonas species. A further Group E comprised one Xcv strain (NCPPB 182) from Puerto Rico, one X. vasicola pv. holcicola strain plus 6 other unclassified Xanthomonas strains causing red stripe disease symptoms in sugarcane. Three of these groups occur on Mauritius and two occur on Réunion. Group B strains originally caused serious problems in noble canes. As resistant interspecific hybrids were introduced, group D strains appeared in Mauritius possibly being introduced from Réunion but having similar host ranges within the Gramineae and Palmae. The findings that 3 of these groups (A, B, D) can cause gumming disease in a grass species (T. maxima) and that 2 of them (B, D) also cause gumming disease in sugar cane (Gramineae) and palms (Palmae) is unusual.