Ham Hyeonheui, Lee Yong Hwan, Moh Sang Hyun, Cho Won Kyong
Plant Disease Control Division, Department of Agro-Food Safety and Crop Protection, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Wanju, 55365, Republic of Korea.
Plant Cell Research Institute of BIO-FD&C Co., Ltd, Incheon, 21990, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 19;15(1):30357. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-15530-7.
Erwinia amylovora is a highly destructive phytopathogenic bacterium that causes fire blight in Rosaceae plants, particularly apple and pear trees. Due to its status as a quarantine organism in many countries, extensive epidemiological and genotypic studies have been conducted to better understand and manage this pathogen. This study presents a novel workflow for identifying strain-specific simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in bacterial genomes, focusing on E. amylovora. Leveraging the abundance of available genome data, the workflow involves identifying single-copy genes via BLASTX searches, followed by SSR identification using the MISA tool and validation through sequence alignment. Utilizing the genome of E. amylovora strain CFBP 1430 as a reference, 27 SSRs within 26 single-copy genes were identified, displaying diverse repeat patterns and lengths. Five genes containing SSRs were selected, offering valuable markers for strain differentiation. Phylogenetic analysis of 114 E. amylovora strains revealed three distinct groups: widely prevalent, Western NA, and Eastern NA clades, in line with previous findings. A comparative analysis with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) analysis and multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) highlighted differences in marker selection strategies and underscored the need to validate findings using multiple genotyping approaches. While limitations remain due to incomplete nucleotide sequences in public databases, this study advances our understanding of the genetic diversity, population structure, and evolutionary dynamics of E. amylovora strains, and positions SSR-based methods as a complementary tool alongside other established techniques.
梨火疫病菌是一种极具破坏性的植物病原细菌,可导致蔷薇科植物发生火疫病,尤其是苹果树和梨树。由于其在许多国家属于检疫性生物,因此开展了广泛的流行病学和基因型研究,以更好地了解和管理这种病原菌。本研究提出了一种用于鉴定细菌基因组中菌株特异性简单序列重复(SSR)的新流程,重点针对梨火疫病菌。利用大量可用的基因组数据,该流程包括通过BLASTX搜索鉴定单拷贝基因,随后使用MISA工具进行SSR鉴定并通过序列比对进行验证。以梨火疫病菌CFBP 1430菌株的基因组为参考,在26个单拷贝基因中鉴定出27个SSR,显示出不同的重复模式和长度。选择了5个含有SSR的基因,为菌株鉴别提供了有价值的标记。对114株梨火疫病菌进行的系统发育分析揭示了三个不同的组:广泛流行组、北美西部进化枝和北美东部进化枝,这与之前的研究结果一致。与成簇规律间隔短回文重复序列(CRISPR)分析和多位点可变数目串联重复序列分析(MLVA)的比较分析突出了标记选择策略的差异,并强调需要使用多种基因分型方法来验证研究结果。尽管由于公共数据库中核苷酸序列不完整而仍然存在局限性,但本研究增进了我们对梨火疫病菌株的遗传多样性、群体结构和进化动态的理解,并将基于SSR的方法定位为与其他成熟技术互补的工具。