Erwinia carotovora: Difference between revisions

From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource
Line 54: Line 54:


Perombelon, Michael CM. The Prokaryotes.  Second Edition. p2899- - 2921.
Perombelon, Michael CM. The Prokaryotes.  Second Edition. p2899- - 2921.
Genome sequence of the enterobacterial phytopathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica and characterization of virulence factors.
Bell KS, Sebaihia M, Pritchard L, Holden MT, Hyman LJ, Holeva MC, Thomson NR, Bentley SD, Churcher LJ, Mungall K, Atkin R, Bason N, Brooks K, Chillingworth T, Clark K, Doggett J, Fraser A, Hance Z, Hauser H, Jagels K, Moule S, Norbertczak H, Ormond D, Price C, Quail MA, Sanders M, Walker D, Whitehead S, Salmond GP, Birch PR, Parkhill J, Toth IK.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2004 Jul 27;101(30):11105-10. Epub 2004 Jul 19

Revision as of 08:00, 3 May 2007

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Erwinia carotovora

Classification

Higher order taxa

Kingdom: Bacteria Phylum: Proteobacteria Class: Gammaproteobacteria Order: Enterobacteriales Family: Enterobacteriaceae Genus: Erwinia Species: carotovora

Species

Erwinia amylovora; Erwinia aphidicola; Erwinia billingiae; Erwinia carotovora; Erwinia chrysantum; Erwinia mallotivora; Erwinia papayae; Erwinia persicina; Erwinia psidii; Erwinia pyrifoliae; Erwinia rhapontici; Erwinia toletana; Erwinia tracheiphila

NCBI: Taxonomy

Genus species

Description and significance

Erwinia carotovora is a rod shaped bacterium that was named after the crop of carrots from which it was first isolated. The bacterium not only infect carrots but many other vegetables including potatoes, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, lettuce and ornamental plants like iris. These widespread microbes can be found in soil, guts of insects, water and suspended aerosols in air; they ceaselessly invade crops of potatoes and other vegetables in the field or storage and cause plant tissue to become soft and watery that eventually turn slimy and foul-smelling.

Genome structure

Genome analysis of Erwinia carotovora indicates that this organism not only fixes nitrogen but also catabolize plant-produced opines. Along with all six of the known secretion systems, the chromosome also encodes a sizeable collection of plant cell wall-degrading enzymes such as pectinases. This signifies the bactium's ability produce pathogenicity determinants such as the aforementioned degradative enzymes and avirulence proteins. Disruption of the type IV secretion system affected virulence, which suggests this does not simply reflect an integrated plasmid in the chromosome.

Cell structure and metabolism

Erwinia Carotovora is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that lives alone or aggregates into pairs and chains. Non-sporeforming and peritrichously flagellated, it is a facultative anaerobe that is catalase negative and oxidase positive. As a mesophilic bacterium, E. carotovora thrives the most in the temperature range of 27 to 30 degrees Celsius.

Ecology

Describe any interactions with other organisms (included eukaryotes), contributions to the environment, effect on environment, etc.

Pathology

Erwinia carotovora is a plant pathogen that causes cell death through plant cell wall destruction by creating an osmotically fragile cell through the production of extracellular pectic enzymes and cellulase that break down integrity of the pectin and degrades cellulose. This organism causes soft-rot diseases of many plants, including potatoes through plant to plant infection, insect to plant infection, soil to plant and water to plant infection.

Application to Biotechnology

Does this organism produce any useful compounds or enzymes? What are they and how are they used?

Current Research

In the recent article "Genome sequence of the enterobacterial phytopathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica and characterization of virulence factors.", it was discovered that organism responsible for blackleg and soft-rot disease in potatoes, Erwinia Carotovora, demonstrates unexpected metabolic traits such as nitrogen fixation and opine catabolism. The proportion of genes responsible for the aforementioned features also encoded pathogenic determinants which were possibly aquired through horizontally transfered gene clusters of type IV secretion and polyketide phytotoxin synthesis.

References

Wood, M. 1998. Ubi7-new tool for potato breeders. Agricultural Research/January 1998, pp. 12-13.

Perombelon, Michael CM. The Prokaryotes. Second Edition. p2899- - 2921.

Genome sequence of the enterobacterial phytopathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica and characterization of virulence factors. Bell KS, Sebaihia M, Pritchard L, Holden MT, Hyman LJ, Holeva MC, Thomson NR, Bentley SD, Churcher LJ, Mungall K, Atkin R, Bason N, Brooks K, Chillingworth T, Clark K, Doggett J, Fraser A, Hance Z, Hauser H, Jagels K, Moule S, Norbertczak H, Ormond D, Price C, Quail MA, Sanders M, Walker D, Whitehead S, Salmond GP, Birch PR, Parkhill J, Toth IK. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2004 Jul 27;101(30):11105-10. Epub 2004 Jul 19