Rathayibacter iranicus isolated from symptomless wheat seeds in Turkey

Authors

E. Postnikova, USDA-ARS, Ft. Detrick, MD
Irina V. Agarkova, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
S. Altundag, Plant Protection Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey
F. Eskandari, USDA-ARS, Ft. Detrick, MD
A. Sechler, USDA-ARS, Ft. Detrick, MD
A. Karahan, Plant Protection Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey
A. K. Vidaver, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
W. Schneider, USDA-ARS, Ft. Detrick, MD
M. Ozakman, Plant Protection Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey
N. W. Schaad, USDA-ARS, Ft. Detrick, MD

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2-2009

Comments

Published in Plant Pathology 58 (2009), p. 796. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3059.2009.02076.x

Abstract

Rathayibacter iranicus (Ri), originally reported in Iran in 1961 (Sharif, 1961), has not been reported outside Iran and only one strain is known to exist. Like R. tritici (Rt), Ri causes a gumming disease of wheat in association with the nematode Anguina tritici (Paruthi et al., 1989). During 2003, a survey of wheat seed for Rathayibacter species (RS) in Turkey using samples from 799 farmers in six provinces in Central Anatolia was conducted. The samples showed neither the brown to black galls typical of A. tritici infection nor the yellowish galls typical of Ri and Rt. To determine the presence of RS, 120 g samples were washed in 100 mL of sterile 0·85% NaCl with 0·02% Tween 20 and plated onto 523 agar (Schaad et al., 2001) modified by adding 30 mg nalidixic acid, 15 mg polymixin B sulphate and 100 mg cycloheximide per litre. After incubation at 27°C for seven days, several typical colonies of RS were cloned by streaking onto YDC agar (Schaad et al., 2001). Twenty five strains were presumptively identified as RS based on a Gram positive reaction, oxidase negative reaction and yellow growth.