<i>Pantoea agglomerans</i>: a mysterious bacterium of evil and good. Part III. Deleterious effects: infections of humans, animals and plants

Abstract

Pantoea agglomerans, a bacterium associated with plants, is not an obligate infectious agent in humans. However, it could be a cause of opportunistic human infections, mostly by wound infection with plant material, or as a hospital-acquired infection, mostly in immunocompromised individuals. Wound infection with P. agglomerans usually follow piercing or laceration of skin with a plant thorn, wooden splinter or other plant material and subsequent inoculation of the plant-residing bacteria, mostly during performing of agricultural occupations and gardening, or children playing. Septic arthritis or synovitis appears as a common clinical outcome of exogenous infection with P. agglomerans, others include endophthalmitis, periostitis, endocarditis and osteomyelitis. Another major reason for clinical infection with P. agglomerans is exposure of hospitalized, often immunodeficient individuals to medical equipment or fluids contaminated with this bacterium. Epidemics of nosocomial septicemia with fatal cases have been described in several countries, both in adult and paediatric patients. In most cases, however, the clinical course of the hospital-acquired disease was mild and application of the proper antibiotic treatment led to full recovery. Compared to humans, there are only few reports on infectious diseases caused by Pantoea agglomerans in vertebrate animals. This species has been identified as a possible cause of equine abortion and placentitis and a haemorrhagic disease in dolphin fish (Coryphaena hippurus). P. agglomerans strains occur commonly, usually as symbionts, in insects and other arthropods. Pantoea agglomerans usually occurs in plants as an epi-or endophytic symbiont, often as mutualist. Nevertheless, this species has also also been identified as a cause of diseases in a range of cultivable plants, such as cotton, sweet onion, rice, maize, sorghum, bamboo, walnut, an ornamental plant called Chinese taro (Alocasia cucullata), and a grass called onion couch (Arrhenatherum elatius). Some plant-pathogenic strains of P. agglomerans are tumourigenic, inducing gall formation on table beet, an ornamental plant gypsophila (Gypsophila paniculata), wisteria, Douglas-fir and cranberry. Recently, a Pantoea species closely related to P. agglomerans has been identified as a cause of bacterial blight disease in the edible mushroom Pleurotus eryngii cultivated in China. The genetically governed determinants of plant pathogenicity in Pantoea agglomerans include such mechanisms as the hypersensitive response and pathogenicity (hrp) system, phytohormones, the quorum-sensing (QS) feedback system and type III secretion system (T3SS) injecting the effector proteins into the cytosol of a plant cell.

Development of selected bacterial groups of the rectal microbiota of healthy calves during the first week postpartum

“…The lactose-negative enterobacteria detected during the first sampling times were mostly germs of the genera Pantoea, followed by Hafnia and Serratia. As Pantoea spp., especially P. agglomerans, are associated with plants (Dutkiewicz et al 2016), we presume primarily a contamination from the farm environment. Especially in newborns, allochthonous bacterial species can be detected, which normally occur in habitats other than the gastrointestinal tract (Mackie et al 1999).…”

Yeasts and bacteria associated with kocho, an Ethiopian fermented food produced from enset (Ensete ventricosum)

“…In plants it often acts as symbiont, but in some cases it can also be a pathogen. Cases where it acted as pathogen on humans have also been documented (Dutkiewicz et al 2016). …”

Temporal Variations in Cigarette Tobacco Bacterial Community Composition and Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamine Content Are Influenced by Brand and Storage Conditions

“…Pseudomonas and Pantoea are gram-negative, which may contribute to the high levels of lipopolysaccharide found in cigarette tobacco and smoke (Hasday et al, 1999). Both genera also contain species that are associated with disease in humans (Hatchette et al, 2000; Musher, 2001; Dutkiewicz et al, 2016). These include P. putida and P. oryzihabitans , which are generally considered opportunist pathogens (Yang et al, 1996), particularly P. oryzihabitans which has been linked to bacteremia, peritonitis, and pneumonia (Lin et al, 1997).…”