The Dickeya sp. bacterium (Erwinia chrysanthemi) annually causes some 15 to 25 million euro damage in seed potato cultivation resulting from the stem diseases caused by the bacterium. Research by Plant Research International in 2009 showed that the bacterium may already have spread within a potato batch before harvest.
Photo: Stem inoculation of potato plants with Dickeya sp. may result in infestation of belowground plant parts. Here the colonisation of trachea of stolons is made visible by a GFP-marked Dickeya strain by means of confocal laser scanning microscopy (above water control)
Greenhouse research showed that infestation from the soil may lead to internal infestation of plants, including daughter tubers. The bacterium was marked with the green fluorescent protein and then made visible by means of confocal laser scanning microscopy.
The article ‘Systemic Colonization of Potato Plants by a Soilborne, Green Fluorescent Protein-Tagged Strain of Dickeya sp. Biovar 3’ was published in the February issue of ‘Phytopathology’. The Editor in Chief of this journal draws attention to the beautiful colour photographs that convincingly illustrate the colonisation of potato roots by the plant pathogenic bacterium Dickeya.
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It has meanwhile been demonstrated with the same technique that the Dickeya bacterium can in 30 days colonise the belowground parts of the plant from the infected stems.
This research by Plant Research International is financed by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.