Erwinia amylovora: Difference between revisions

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==Classification==
==Classification==


===Higher order taxa===
<b>Higher order taxa</b>


Bacteria; Proteobacteria; Gammaproteobacteria; Enterobacteriales; Enterobacteriaceae; <i>Erwinia</i>
Bacteria; Proteobacteria; Gammaproteobacteria; Enterobacteriales; Enterobacteriaceae; <i>Erwinia</i>

Revision as of 17:34, 22 April 2009

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Erwinia amylovora


Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Proteobacteria; Gammaproteobacteria; Enterobacteriales; Enterobacteriaceae; Erwinia


Genus species

Erwinia amylovora


Description and significance

Erwinia amylovora is a gram negative, motile, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped bacteria. It is negative for the Voges-Proskauer test and positive for gelatin hydrolysis and it releases gas when it undergoes glucose fermentation (1). Fire blight, a disease that affects and can cause extensive damage to apple and pear trees, is caused Erwinia amylovora. It received its name from the appearance of the infected plane, which often appears blackened as if it was scorched by fire (4). It can destroy apple and pear blossoms, shoots, limbs, and even whole trees (2). It can also affect other plants in sub-family Pomoideae of the family Rosaceae3. It is native to North America but spread to northern Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. It has continued to spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean since the 1980s and throughout Europe (3). The bacteria can enter the plant through its blossoms, stomata, or wounds on various parts of the plant and is often carried by rain or insects (3). Some of the common symptoms include the blossom blight, shoot blight, canker blight, trauma blight, and rootstock blight (2). In some cases the bacteria can be seen as a white or golden ooze seeing from the infected plant tissue (3). Once it infects the tree it spreads rapidly and there is often no way to save the infected tree (3).



Genome structure

Cell structure and metabolism

Ecology

Pathology

References

1. J. G. Holt et. al. Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology.

2. Wilcox, Wayne. “Fire Blight” http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/extension/tfabp/firepm.shtml

3. EPPO. “Data Sheets on Quarantine Pests: Erwinia amylovora” http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/bacteria/Erwinia_amylovora/ERWIAM_ds.pdf

4. “Fire Blight” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwinia_amylovora