Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2021
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E68
Höfundar / Authors: Natalia Ramírez (1), Oddur Vilhelmsson (2), Margrét Auður Sigurbjörnsdóttir (3)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Háskólinn á Akureyri
Kynnir / Presenter: Natalia Ramirez
Pseudomonas syringae (Psy) is a model pathogene widely spread causing epidemics in almost all economically important crops. In the last years, an increase in virulence of this strain has been noticed. Monteil et al. 2013, suggest that P. syringae has different reservoirs in non-agricultural environments that could influence the bacteria virulence by lateral gene transfer. In this project, the natural reservoirs of Pseudomonas syringae are studied with a special emphasis on lichens. Here, we also report the genetic characterisation of Psy in wild plants and moss surrounding lichens for a better understanding of Psy distribution and ecology. The practical objective is to gain insight into targets for methods to control disease. This project takes place in Iceland that provides perfect conditions for plant pathogen studies with almost no disruptions from crops or human activity and with more that 750 species of lichens. To our best knowledge, this is the first time that Pseudomonas syringae is found and isolated from lichens. Interestingly, Peltigera is the only lichen gender found with Psy presence to date with our detection range. By sequencing the samples, we observed tendencies in strain type or abundance depending on the type of organism -lichen, moss or plant- as well as habitat type. Surprisingly, the second most likely Psy strain found corresponds with pathovar tomato which could suppose a risk for tomato crops found in Iceland.