, A New Bacterial Pathogen Affecting Wheat Plants ( L.) in Poland.

Wheat () is one of the most economically important crops in the world. During the routine monitoring of wheat pest, the cereal leaf beetle (CLB, Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), in the Greater Poland region, it was observed that some leaves wounded by CLB also displayed brownish lesions with clear margins and yellow halo, disease symptoms resembling a bacterial infection. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate those symptoms to establish a causal agent of the disease. The identification based on the results of the Biolog's Gen III system, 16S rRNA, and B genes sequencing, revealed the presence of eight strains of bacteria. Four strains were derived from wheat leaves (Ta024, Ta027, Ta030, Ta046), and four from the CLB's oral secretion (OUC1, OUD2, OUF2, and OUG1). They shared the nucleotide identity ranging from 99 to 100% to strains deposited in the GenBank database. Additionally, the multi-locus sequence analysis (MLSA) of concatenated sequences of partial D, A, B, B, and B genes was performed. All strains isolated in Poland, grouped into one cluster supported with high bootstrap value. Pathogenicity tests performed on four varieties of wheat plants have identified strains as a causal agent of wheat disease. To our knowledge, this is the first report of affecting wheat plants.