Tracking the dissemination of Erwinia amylovora in the Eurasian continent using a PCR targeted on the duplication of a single CRISPR spacer
Kurz M. Carnal S. Dafny-Yelin M. Mairesse O. Gottsberger R.A. Ivanović M. Grahovac M. Lagonenko A.L. Drenova N. Zharmukhamedova G. Doolotkeldieva T. Smits T.H.M. Rezzonico F.
December 2021BioMed Central Ltd
Phytopathology Research
2021#3Issue 1
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.
Central Asia , Founder genotype , Population genetics , Wild apple forest
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Environmental Genomics and System Biology Research Group, Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Campus Grüental, Wädenswil, 8820, Switzerland
Northern Agriculture Research & Development, Migal - Galilee Technology Center, P.O.B. 831, Kiryat Shemona, 11016, Israel
Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Kiryat Shemona, 12208, Israel
Dept. for Molecular Diagnostics of Plant Diseases, AGES, Institute for Sustainable Plant Production, Spargelfeldstr. 191, Vienna, 1220, Austria
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade-Zemun, 11080, Serbia
Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, 21000, Serbia
Department of Molecular Biology, Biology Faculty, Belarusian State University, Minsk, 220030, Belarus
All-Russian Plant Quarantine Centre, Pogranichnaya Street 32, Bykovo, Ramenskoe, Moscow, 140150, Russian Federation
Kazakh Institute of Horticulture & Viticulture Kazakhstan, 238/5 Gagarin Street, Almaty, 050060, Kazakhstan
Plant Protection Department, Kyrgyz – Turkish Manas University, Campus of Chingiz, Bishkek, 720044, Kyrgyzstan
Plant Protection Division, Agroscope, Wädenswil, CH-8820, Switzerland
Environmental Genomics and System Biology Research Group
Northern Agriculture Research & Development
Tel-Hai Academic College
Dept. for Molecular Diagnostics of Plant Diseases
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Agriculture
Department of Molecular Biology
All-Russian Plant Quarantine Centre
Kazakh Institute of Horticulture & Viticulture Kazakhstan
Plant Protection Department
Plant Protection Division
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