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Diversity among agrobacteria isolated from diseased plants of blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) in Argentina

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to isolate, identify and analyze the diversity of the causative agents of crown galls and hairy roots from symptomatic plants of Vaccinium corymbossum by means of biological, biochemical and molecular tools. All the bacteria isolated from blueberries (n = 78) were found to be Agrobacterium since they grew on three differential media, provoked cell and/or root proliferation on Kalanchoe, and contained a 730 bp partial sequence that codes for virulence genes within the virC operon found on Ti and/or Ri plasmids. Isolates were highly variable considering the ERIC-PCR patterns as well as biochemical reactions and were all represented by 7 different restriction patterns of the 16SrDNA. While most of the isolates belonged to Agrobacterium bv. 1 (n = 33) or Agrobacterium bv. 2 (n = 31) only fourteen were Agrobacterium rubi. A representative isolate of each of these three groups was further identified by sequencing the approximately 400 bp 16SrDNA. We concluded that Vaccinium plants are particularly susceptible to Agrobacterium bv. 1, Agrobacterium bv. 2, and also to Agrobacterium rubi. To our knowledge this is the first survey of Agrobacterium affecting blueberries in Argentina.

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Acknowledgments

A.M.A and P.B.A. are members of the Scientific Research Career of Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CIC) (Argentina) and A.C.L. is a Member of CONICET (CCT La Plata). This research was supported by a grant from CIC. The authors are grateful Drs. D. H. Grasso (Instituto de suelos, INTA Castelar, Argentina) and S. Süle (Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary) for providing the reference strains A. tumefaciens LBA 956 and A. vitis K306 and S4 respectively.

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  1. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología CIDEFI, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calle 60 y 119, La Plata, 1900, Argentina

    Adriana M. Alippi, Ana C. López & Pedro A. Balatti

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  1. Adriana M. Alippi
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  2. Ana C. López
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  3. Pedro A. Balatti
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Correspondence to Adriana M. Alippi.

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Alippi, A.M., López, A.C. & Balatti, P.A. Diversity among agrobacteria isolated from diseased plants of blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) in Argentina. Eur J Plant Pathol 134, 415–430 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-012-0001-x

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