Diagnostic and epidemiological tools for cherry pathogenic bacteria based on genomics, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and LAMP

• Research unit: COST
• Project number: C12.0099

Key words (English)

Pseudomonas syringae; Agrobacterium; Xanthomonas arboricola; phylogenetics; phyloproteomics; genomics; crop protection; phytosanitary regulation

Research programs (English)

COST-Action FA1104 - Sustainable production of high-quality cherries for the European market

Short description (English)

Bacteria are causing significant damages to cherry production. Diagnosis is based on phenotypic characterization, including pathogenicity tests on plants. This project aims to deliver implementable tools for phytosanitary agents, and also to gain deeper understanding of cherry pathogen genetics and diversity. This project will develop MALDI-TOF MS technology as a rapid alternative/compliment to existing methods for identification and clustering analysis of bacterial cherry pathogens. By establishing the first complete genome sequences of these pathogens, this project will also fill in an important genetic gap with insights on population ecology, virulence genetics and evolution. This will allow to link phyloproteomics and phylogenomics data but also design genomics informed assays for rapid, easy and on field diagnostics in order to prevent spreading/introduction of these pathogens. Training activities will be conducted throughout this project to ease MALDI-TOF MS and LAMP technology transfer and several results transferred to industry partners. This project offers a significant boost towards rapid identification and understanding of bacterial cherry pathogens. It will generate collaborative research activity around identification, genomics, comparative genomics and phytosanitary aspects and will federate several European scientists, culture collections, phytosanitary agencies and industry partners.

Further information (English)

Full name of research-institution/enterprise: ZHAW - Institute of Natural Resource Sciences Head of Environmental Genomics + Systems Biol.Research Group Life Sciences + Facility Management Dep.

Partners and International Organizations (English)

AT; BE; BA; BG; HR; CY; DK; DE; EL; HU; IL; IT; LV; LT; NL; NO; PL; PT; RO; RS; SI; ES; SE; CH; MK; TR; UK

Abstract (English)

Bacteria are causing significant damages to cherry production. Diagnosis is based on phenotypic characterization, including pathogenicity tests on plants. This project aimed to deliver implementable tools for phytosanitary agents, and also to gain deeper understanding of cherry pathogen genetics and diversity. This project developed MALDI-TOF MS technology as a rapid alternative/complement to existing methods for identification and clustering analysis of bacterial cherry pathogens. By establishing the first complete genome sequences of these pathogens, this project did fill in an important genetic gap with insights on population ecology, virulence genetics and evolution. This allowed to link phyloproteomics and phylogenomics data but also to design several genomics informed assays for rapid, easy and on field diagnostics in order to prevent spreading/introduction of these pathogens. Training activities were conducted throughout this project to ease MALDI-TOF MS and LAMP technology transfer and several results were transferred to industry partners. This project offered a significant boost towards rapid identification and understanding of bacterial cherry pathogens. It has generated collaborative research activities around identification, genomics, comparative genomics and phytosanitary aspects and did federate some European scientists, culture collections, phytosanitary agencies and industry partners.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. [phone] Swiss Project-Number: C12.0099