Use of traC Gene to Type the Incidence and Distribution of pXFAS_5235 Plasmid-Bearing Strains of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa ST1 in Spain

Autor: María Pilar Velasco-Amo, Luis F. Arias-Giraldo, Concepción Olivares-García, Nicolás Denancé, Marie-Agnès Jacques, Blanca B. Landa
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Plants, Vol 11, Iss 12, p 1562 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2223-7747
DOI: 10.3390/plants11121562
Popis: Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is a phytopathogenic bacterium with a repertoire of self-replicating genetic elements, including plasmids, pathogenicity islands, and prophages. These elements provide potential avenues for horizontal gene transfer both within and between species and have the ability to confer new virulence traits, including the ability to colonize new host plants. However, they can also serve as a ‘footprint’ to type plasmid-bearing strains. Genome sequencing of several strains of Xf subsp. fastidiosa sequence type (ST) 1 from Mallorca Island, Spain, revealed the presence of a 38 kb plasmid (pXFAS_5235). In this study, we developed a PCR-based typing approach using primers targeting the traC gene to determine the presence of pXFAS_5235 plasmid or other plasmids carrying this gene in a world-wide collection of 65 strains X. fastidiosa from different subspecies and STs or in 226 plant samples naturally infected by the bacterium obtained from the different outbreaks of Xf in Spain. The traC gene was amplified only in the plant samples obtained from Mallorca Island infected by Xf subsp. fastidiosa ST1 and from all Spanish strains belonging to this ST. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of traC revealed a close relatedness among Spanish and Californian strains carrying similar plasmids. Our results confirm previous studies, which suggested that a single introduction event of Xf subsp. fastidiosa ST1 occurred in the Balearic Islands. Further studies on the presence and role of plasmids in Xf strains belonging to the same or different subspecies and STs can provide important information in studies of epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of this plant pathogen.
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