Toxoflavin Produced by Burkholderia glumae Causing Rice Grain Rot Is Responsible for Inducing Bacterial Wilt in Many Field Crops

Abstract

Severe wilt symptoms similar to bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum were observed in tomato, hot pepper, eggplant, potato, perilla, sesame, and sunflower in 2000 and 2001 in Korea. From diseased crops at 65 different locations, we obtained 106 isolates that produced green pigment on CPG medium; 36 were isolated from discolored rice panicles. The causal pathogen was identified as Burkholderia glumae based on its biochemical characteristics, fatty acid methyl ester analysis, and 16S rRNA gene sequence. Nine representative isolates produced toxoflavin, as determined by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry using a direct inlet system and TLC analyses, and caused bacterial wilt on tomato, sesame, perilla, eggplant, and hot pepper. However, BGR12, a wild-type isolate lacking toxoflavin production and toxoflavin-deficient mutants generated by Tn5lacZ failed to cause bacterial wilt on those five field crops. Cells of B. glumae and synthetic toxoflavin caused wilt symptoms on field crops, demonstrating a lack of host specificity. Synthetic toxoflavin caused wilt symptoms on tomato, sesame, perilla, eggplant, and hot pepper at 10 μg/ml concentration 1 day after treatment. This is the first report of bacterial wilt on various crops caused by B. glumae, and our results clearly demonstrate that toxoflavin is a key factor in wilt symptom development.

EliA is required for inducing the stearyl alcohol-mediated expression of secretory proteins and production of polyester in Ralstonia sp. NT80

“…Although a eukaryotic host cell for Ralstonia sp. NT80 has yet to be identified, several species belonging to the genera Ralstonia and Burkholderia are known to infect plant cells (Cottyn et al, 1996;Jeong et al, 2003;Coenye et al, 2003). As described above, land plants use fatty alcohols, including stearyl alcohol, in the form of waxes (Buschhaus & Jetter, 2011).…”

Burkholderia glumae en el cultivo de arroz en Costa Rica.

“…La técnica de Biolog es considerada como una herramienta muy útil y confiable en la identificación de aislamientos de B. glumae (Jeong et al, 2003;Yang, 2004;Nandakumar et al, 2009). Alternativamente se puede utilizar perfiles de ácidos grasos para realizar la identificación de la bacteria, obteniéndose muy buenos resultados con el sistema Sherlock Microbial (Jeong et al, 2003;Weinberg et al, 2007).…”

Burkholderia glumae Infection in an Infant with Chronic Granulomatous Disease

“…Bylund and colleagues (5) also recently demonstrated that ingested Burkholderia induced significant levels of necrosis in neutrophils from patients with CGD, suggesting yet another mechanism to explain the severe pathology seen with Burkholderia infection in this patient population. B. glumae, first described in Japan in 1976 (33), has been isolated in association with various plants including tomato, hot pepper, eggplant, potato, perilla, sesame, and sunflower (17). It is found epiphytically on rice leaves and in the rice rhizosphere (32) and is an important pathogen of rice, being implicated as a major cause of rice grain discoloration and seedling rot (9,10,14,33).…”