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Serratia marcescens associated with bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) soft-rot disease under greenhouse conditions

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Abstract

Soft-rotting bacteria affecting bell peppers crops represent an economically destructive disease of growing importance worldwide. In Venezuela since 2006, soft-rot symptoms have been occasionally observed in bell pepper fruits grown under greenhouse conditions. Affected fruits presented water-soaked lesions that progressed to complete fruit maceration. Bacteria were isolated from water-soaked lesions in order to identify the causal agent of this disease. Of 13 bacterial isolates recovered from affected fruits, only isolate AGPim1A was able to produce a hypersensitive reaction in tobacco plants and to reproduce soft-rot symptoms in bell peppers fruits. Several methods, including classical bacteriological tests and carbon utilization profiling, alongside with sequence analysis of 16S rRNA and housekeeping genes gyrB and groES-groEL, allowed identification of the soft-rotting bacterium as Serratia marcescens. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing a S. marcescens strain associated with soft-rot disease in bell pepper fruits.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Ronald Da Silva (Viveros El Horticultor, C.A.) for kindly providing bell peppers fruits and plants for experiments. This work was partially supported by the Decanato de Estudios de Postgrado (Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas-Venezuela) and the “Misión Ciencia” government scholarship program (grants to A.G.).

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  1. Annika Gillis

    Present address: Laboratory of Food and Environmental Microbiology, Université catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud 2, Box L7.05.12, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Agrícola, Departamento de Biología Celular, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Apartado Postal 89000, Caracas, Venezuela

    Annika Gillis & María A. Santana

  2. Laboratorio de Genética Molecular Bacteriana, Departamento de Biología Celular, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Apartado Postal 89000, Caracas, Venezuela

    Margarita Rodríguez

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  1. Annika Gillis
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Correspondence to Annika Gillis.

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Gillis, A., Rodríguez, M. & Santana, M.A. Serratia marcescens associated with bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) soft-rot disease under greenhouse conditions. Eur J Plant Pathol 138, 1–8 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-013-0300-x

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