Phage biocontrol to combat Pseudomonas syringae pathogens causing disease in cherry

Abstract

Bacterial canker is a major disease of Prunus species, such as cherry (Prunus avium). It is caused by Pseudomonas syringae pathovars, including P. syringae pv. syringae (Pss) and P. syringae pv. morsprunorum race 1 (Psm1) and race 2 (Psm2). Concerns over the environmental impact of, and the development of bacterial resistance to, traditional copper controls calls for new approaches to disease management. Bacteriophagebased biocontrol could provide a sustainable and natural alternative approach to combat bacterial pathogens. Therefore, seventy phages were isolated from soil, leaf and bark of cherry trees in six locations in the south east of England. Subsequently, their host range was assessed against strains of Pss, Psm1 and Psm2. While these phages lysed different Pss, Psm and some other P. syringae pathovar isolates, they did not infect beneficial bacteria such as Pseudomonas fluorescens. A subset of thirteen phages were further characterized by genome sequencing, revealing five distinct clades in which the phages could be clustered. No known toxins or lysogeny-associated genes could be identified. Using bioassays, selected phages could effectively reduce disease progression in vivo, both individually and in cocktails, reinforcing their potential as biocontrol agents in agriculture.

Bacterial community associated with canker disease from sweet cherry orchards of central valley of Chile presents high resistance to copper

“…Hence, alternatives to CBACs to control bacterial canker in sweet cherry can be expected in the near future. New products based on microorganisms with antagonism to Pss, small antimicrobial peptides (AMPs; Breen et al, 2015), bacteriophage (Rabiey et al, 2020), inducer of systemic acquired resistance (SAR; Gao et al, 2015) are being evaluated to control bacterial canker in Prunus trees.…”

Shotgun Metagenomics evaluation of soil fertilization effect on the rhizosphere viral community of maize plants

“…Bacteriophages in the soil performs myriad of functions such as bacterial population control, suppression of phytopathogens, change in bacterial metabolism, transfer of genes from one bacteria to another and in uence on biogeochemical cycling of nutrient through cell lysis and release of trapped nutrients as well as in tness tradeoff of the hosts (Zheng et al 2019;Rabiey et al 2020).…”

Phages in Food Industry Biocontrol and Bioremediation

“…Cherries: A treatment with thirteen individual phages or two cocktails produced a reduction in the disease progression and a decrease of 15-40% of P. syringae in cherry leaves [83].…”