Abstract
Newly discovered Erwinia amylovora phages PEar1, PEar2, PEar4 and PEar6 were isolated from three different orchards in North Tunisia to study their potential as biocontrol agents. Illumina sequencing revealed that the PEar viruses carry a single-strand DNA genome between 6608 and 6801 nucleotides and belong to the Inoviridae, making them the first described filamentous phages of E. amylovora. Interestingly, phage-infected cells show a decreased swimming and swarming motility and a cocktail of the four phages can significantly reduce infection of E. amylovora in a pear bioassay, potentially making them suitable candidates for phage biocontrol.
Highlights
Fire blight, a devastating plant disease affecting a wide range of host species within the Rosaceae family, is caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Erwinia amylovora
E. amylovora was cultured on levan agar plates (2 g/L yeast extract; 5 g/L tryptone; 5 g/L sodium chloride, 50 g/L sucrose and 15 g/L agar) or in Lysogeny Broth (LB; 5 g/L yeast extract; 10 g/L tryptone; 10 g/L sodium chloride) and, when needed, supplemented with 1% sucrose (LBS) at 25 ◦C
By enrichment with Ea1, a Tunisian E. amylovora strain, six phages were isolated from soil and plant tissue samples collected from different orchards in North Tunisia
Summary
A devastating plant disease affecting a wide range of host species within the Rosaceae family, is caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Erwinia amylovora. This bacterium is one of the most important bacterial diseases affecting Pyrus communis (pear) and Malus domestica (apple) cultivars worldwide [1]. E. amylovora is causing devastating economic losses in apple and pear production in Tunisia, with a decrease from 60,000 metric tons in 2011 to less than. The antibiotic streptomycin was commonly used to control E. amylovora during open bloom [4,5]. Alternatives to control fire blight are being evaluated, such as viral biological control strategies
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