Mohammad Abdollahi

Genetic diversity of soft rot strains of Pectobacterium, isolated from different hosts, using ISSR marker

Abstract Pectobacteria are one of the most important groups of plant pathogenic bacteria and have been reported in many countries including Iran. Thirty-five Iranian strains of pectobacteria were isolated from potato, cabbage, sugar beet, pepper, carrot, onion, cucumber, turnip and tomato host plants cultivated in Fars province of Iran, in 2013. The genetic diversity among the strains was evaluated using ISSR marker. The tested strains were rod-shape, motile with peritrichous flagella, gram-negative, facultative anaerobes, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive, and were able to cause potato rot, while they could not induce hypersensitive reaction on tobacco leaves. Based on phenotypic criteria, the isolated strains were categorised into three groups. The strains of first, second and third groups were related to Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, Pectobacterium betavascularum and Dickeya chrysanthemi, respectively. According to ISSR assay, the primers that used in this assay showed significant diversity among the strains and the specific primers GTGC4, GAGC4 and GTG5 confirmed the classification.