• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.232-234
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• 2011

During survey of postharvest diseases of vegetables in the middle region of Korea in 2003, 2004 and 2005, new disease symptoms showing watery rot and soft rot were observed. In this study, the disease causal agents were identified as Geotrichum candidum, and their host range and pathogenicity were investigated. G. candidum isolated had wide host range and strong pathogenicity against carrot, cucumber, tomato and pumpkin. The disease occurrence on several vegetables that G. candidum can be a serious threat to stable production of fresh vegetable.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.494-501
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• 2021

Pseudomonas cichorii secretes effectors that suppress defense mechanisms in host plants. However, the function of these effectors, including avirulence protein E1 (AvrE1), in the pathogenicity of P. cichorii, remains unexplored. In this study, to investigate the function of avrE1 in P. cichorii JBC1 (PcJBC1), we created an avrE1-deficient mutant (JBC1^ΔavrE1) using CRISPR/Cas9. The disease severity caused by JBC1^ΔavrE1 in tomato plants significantly decreased by reducing water soaking during early infection stage, as evidenced by the electrolyte leakage in infected leaves. The disease symptoms caused by JBC1^ΔavrE1 in the cabbage midrib were light-brown spots compared to the dark-colored ones caused by PcJBC1, which indicates the role of AvrE1 in cell lysis. The avrE1-deficient mutant failed to elicit cell death in non-host tobacco plants. Disease severity and cell death caused by JBC1^ΔavrE1 in host and non-host plants were restored through heterologous complementation with avrE1 from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (PstDC3000). Overall, our results indicate that avrE1 contributes to cell death during early infection, which consequently increases disease development in host plants. The roles of PcJBC1 AvrE1 in host cells remain to be elucidated.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2010

This study was performed to develop a formulation using an antagonistic bacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens A-2 to control tomato leaf mold caused by Fulvia fulva. B. amyloliquefaciens A-2 was grown in a medium with rice oil and mixed with various carrier and additives. One of the formulations, A2-MP, showed the best disease control value among the tested formulations. The disease control value of A2-MP at 100-fold and 500-fold diluted treatment was not significantly different from that of chemical fungicide triflumizole in a growth chamber. Although disease control effect was decreased by serial diluted treatment of the prepared A2-MP, 1,000-fold diluted treatment of A2-MP still showed high disease control value of 72.0%. For the green house experiments, the disease control values of A2-MP was indicated as 79.4% which is similar to that of chemical fungicide, triflumizole showing 79.6%. When the disease control activity of the formulation A2-MP was compared in tomato production conditions, disease control values of 100-fold diluted A2-MP and 3,000 fold diluted triflumizole exhibited 60%, 81.6%, respectively. The disease control efficiency by A-2MP was 73% of the disease control value of chemical fungicide. The formulation A-2MP maintained the stable bacterial viability and disease control activity when stored at $4^{\circ}C$. This result suggested that A-2MP develped from B. amyloliquefaciens A-2 could be used to control tomato leaf mold.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.64-67
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• 1994

Crown rot was found find tomatoes growing on a rockwool culture system in a glasshouse at Dongkwangyang in 1992. The disease occurred on the stem of 'Trust' tomato plants with 3~4 cluster of flowers. Infected plants showed stem girdling and necrosis at or slightly above the rockwool line. Internal tissues of crown and stem including cortex, vascular bundle, and pith became decayed resulting in a chocolate-brown discoloration extending no more than 10~15 cm above the crown. Diseased tomato plants with the similar symptoms were found at Ansung and Taejon where tomatoes were grown on either rockwool or soil in plastic greenhouses. The size of macroconidia of Fusarium isolated from a diseased plant was 26.0~41.6$\times$2.9~4.7${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, and microconidia were formed on short monophialide and the size was 3.6~12.5$\times$2.9~3.6 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Morphological characteristics and inoculation tests indicated that the causal organism of the disease was Fusarium oxysporum.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.184-191
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• 2004

Methanol extracts of fresh materials of 57 plants were screened for in vivo antifungal activity against Magna-porthe grisea, Corticium sasaki, Botrytis cinerea, Phyto-phthora infestans, Puccinia recondita, and Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei. Among them, seven plant extracts showed disease-control efficacy of more than 90％ against at least one of six plant diseases. None of the plant extracts was highly active against tomato gray mold. The methanol extracts of Chloranthus japonicus (roots) (CjR) and Paulownia coreana (stems) (PcS) displayed the highest antifungal activity; the CjR extract controlled the development of rice blast, rice sheath blight, and wheat leaf rust more than 90％, and tomato gray mold and tomato late blight more than 80％. The PcS extract displayed control values of more than 90 ％ against rice blast, wheat leaf rust, and barley powdery mildew and more than 80％ against tomato gray mold. The extract of PcS also had a curative activity against rice sheath blight and that of CjR had a little curative activity against rice blast. On the other hand, the extract of Rumex acetocella roots reduced specifically the development of barley powdery mildew. Further studies on the characterization of antifungal substances in antifungal plant extracts are underway and their disease-control efficacy should be examined under greenhouse and field conditions.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.450-458
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• 2020

Pepper and tomato plants infected with two Clavibacter species, C. capsici and C. michiganensis have shown different patterns of disease development depending on their virulence. Here, we investigated how pepper and tomato plants respond to infection by the high-virulent or low-virulent Clavibacter strains. For this, we chose two strains of each Clavibacter species to show different virulence level in the host plants. Although low-virulent strains showed less disease symptoms, they grew almost the same level as the high-virulent strains in both plants. To further examine the response of host plants to Clavibacter infection, we analyzed the expression patterns of plant defense-related genes in the leaves inoculated with different strains of C. capsici and C. michiganensis. Pepper plants infected with high-virulent C. capsici strain highly induced the expression of CaPR1, CaDEF, CaPR4b, CaPR10, and CaLOX1 at 5 days after inoculation (dai), but their expression was much less in low-virulent Clavibacter infection. Expression of CaSAR8.2 was induced at 2 dai, regardless of virulence level. Expression of GluA, Pin2, and PR2 in tomato plants infected with high-virulent C. michiganensis were much higher at 5 dai, compared with mock or low-virulent strain. Expression of PR1a, Osmotin-like, Chitinase, and Chitinase class 2 was increased, regardless of virulence level. Expression of LoxA gene was not affected by Clavibacter inoculation. These results suggested that Clavibacter infection promotes induction of certain defense-related genes in host plants and that differential expression of those genes by low-virulent Clavibacter infection might be affected by their endophytic lifestyle in plants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1613-1620
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• 2012

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a devastating disease of many economically important crops. Since there is no promising control strategy for bacterial wilt, phage therapy could be adopted using virulent phages. We used phage PE204 as a model lytic bacteriophage to investigate its biocontrol potential for bacterial wilt on tomato plants. The phage PE204 has a short-tailed icosahedral structure and double-stranded DNA genome similar to that of the members of Podoviridae. PE204 is stable under a wide range of temperature and pH, and is also stable in the presence of the surfactant Silwet L-77. An artificial soil microcosm (ASM) to study phage stability in soil was adopted to investigate phage viability under a controlled system. Whereas phage showed less stability under elevated temperature in the ASM, the presence of host bacteria helped to maintain a stable phage population. Simultaneous treatment of phage PE204 at $10^8$ PFU/ml with R. solanacearum on tomato rhizosphere completely inhibited bacterial wilt occurrence, and amendment of Silwet L-77 at 0.1% to the phage suspension did not impair the disease control activity of PE204. The biocontrol activities of phage PE204 application onto tomato rhizosphere before or after R. solanacearum inoculation were also investigated. Whereas pretreatment with the phage was not effective in the control of bacterial wilt, post-treatment of PE204 delayed bacterial wilt development. Our results suggested that appropriate application of lytic phages to the plant root system with a surfactant such as Silwet L-77 could be used to control the bacterial wilt of crops.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.98-107
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• 2022

The incidence of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) and biological and molecular characterization of the Palestinian isolates of ToBRFV are described in this study. Symptomatic leaf samples obtained from Solanum lycopersicum L. (tomatoes) and Nicotiana tabacum L. (cultivated tobacco) plants were tested for tobamoviruses infection by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Tomato leaf samples collected from Tulkarm and Qalqilia are infected with ToBRFV-PAL with an infection rate of 76% and 72.5%, respectively. Leaf samples collected from Jenin and Nablus were found to be mixed infected with ToBRFV-PAL and Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) (100%). Sequence analysis of the ToBRFV-PAL genome showed that the net average nucleotide divergence between ToBRFV/F48-PAL strain and the Israeli and Turkish strains was 0.0026398±0.0006638 (±standard error of mean), while it was 0.0033066±0.0007433 between ToBRFV/F42-PAL and these two isolates. In the phylogenetic tree constructed with the complete genomic sequence, all the ToBRFV isolates were clustered together and formed a sister branch with the TMV. The sequenced Palestinian isolates of ToBRFV-PAL shared the highest nucleotide identity with the Israeli ToBRFV isolate suggesting that the virus was introduced to Palestine from Israel. The findings of this study enhance our understanding of the biological and molecular characteristics of ToBRFV which would help in the management of the disease.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.430-448
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• 2023

Recently, strategies for controlling Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol), the causal agent of Fusarium wilt of tomato, focus on using effective biocontrol agents. In this study, an analysis of the biocontrol and plant growth promoting (PGP) attributes of 11 isolates of loamy soil Bacillus spp. has been conducted. Among them, the isolates B.PNR1 and B.PNR2 inhibited the mycelial growth of Fol by inducing abnormal fungal cell wall structures and cell wall collapse. Moreover, broad-spectrum activity against four other plant pathogenic fungi, F. oxysporum f. sp. cubense race 1 (Foc), Sclerotium rolfsii, Colletotrichum musae, and C. gloeosporioides were noted for these isolates. These two Bacillus isolates produced indole acetic acid, phosphate solubilization enzymes, and amylolytic and cellulolytic enzymes. In the pot experiment, the culture filtrate from B.PNR1 showed greater inhibition of the fungal pathogens and significantly promoted the growth of tomato plants more than those of the other treatments. Isolate B.PNR1, the best biocontrol and PGP, was identified as Bacillus stercoris by its 16S rRNA gene sequence and whole genome sequencing analysis (WGS). The WGS, through genome mining, confirmed that the B.PNR1 genome contained genes/gene cluster of a nonribosomal peptide synthetase/polyketide synthase, such as fengycin, surfactin, bacillaene, subtilosin A, bacilysin, and bacillibactin, which are involved in antagonistic and PGP activities. Therefore, our finding demonstrates the effectiveness of B. stercoris strain B.PNR1 as an antagonist and for plant growth promotion, highlighting the use of this microorganism as a biocontrol agent against the Fusarium wilt pathogen and PGP abilities in tomatoes.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 2012

The rhizobacterium NJ134, showing strong $in$ $vitro$ antifungal activity against $Fusarium$ $oxysporum$, was isolated from field grown tomato plants and identified as $Pseudomonas$ sp. based on 16S ribosomal DNA sequence and biochemical analyses. The antifungal compound purified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, infrared, and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses from NJ134 cultures was polyketide 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (DAPG). Analysis of the sequence of part of one of the genes associated with DAPG synthesis, $phlD$, indicated that the DAPG producer NJ134 was a novel genotype or variant of existing genotype termed O that have been categorized based on isolates from Europe and North America. A greenhouse study indicated that about $10^8$ CFU/g of soil NJ134 culture application was required for effective biocontrol of Fusarium wilt in tomato. These results suggest that a new variant genotype of a DAPG-producing strain of $Pseudomonas$ has the potential to control Fusarium wilt under the low disease pressure conditions.