Detection and Characterization of Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum (Cobb 1894) comb. nov. Causing Bacterial Leaf Streak of Corn in the United States

Authors

J. M. Lang, Colorado State University-Fort Collins
E. DuCharme, Colorado State University-Fort Collins
J. Ibarra Caballero, Colorado State University-Fort CollinsFollow
E. Luna, Colorado State University-Fort CollinsFollow
T. Hartman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
M. Ortiz-Castro, Colorado State University-Fort Collins
K. A. Korus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Alachua County Extension, University of FloridaFollow
J. Rascoe, USDA-APHIS-Plant Protection and Quarantine-CPHST, Beltsville, MarylandFollow
T. A. Jackson-Ziems, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
K. Broders, Colorado State University-Fort CollinsFollow
J. E. Leach, Colorado State University-Fort CollinsFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Phytopathology 107:11 (2017), pp. 1312–1321.

doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-05-17-0168-R

Comments

U.S. government work

Abstract

Bacterial leaf streak of corn (Zea mays) recently reached epidemic levels in three corn-growing states and has been detected in another six states in the central United States. Xanthomonas vasicola was identified as the causal agent of this disease. A multilocus sequence alignment of six housekeeping genes and comparison of average nucleotide identity from draft genome sequence were used to confirm phylogenetic relationships and classification of this bacteria relative to other X. vasicola strains. X. vasicola isolates from Nebraska and South Africa were highly virulent on corn and sugarcane and less virulent on sorghum but caused water-soaking symptoms that are typical of X. vasicola infection on the leaves of all three hosts. Based on host range and phylogenetic comparison, we propose the taxonomic designation of this organism to X. vasicola pv. vasculorum (Cobb 1894) comb. nov. Polymerase chain reaction-based diagnostic assays were developed that distinguish X. vasicola pv. vasculorum and X. vasicola pv. holcicola from each other and from other Xanthomonas spp.