Wild tomatoes resistant to deadly bacterial canker
Bacterial canker of tomato is a disease that leads to wilt, cankers and eventually death. The disease can devastate an entire season’s planting, and is caused by the pathogen Clavibacter michiganensis, which infects commercially bred tomatoes by colonising the xylem, a series of tubes that transports water and minerals throughout the plant. The disease was first discovered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1909, but annual outbreaks now affect production areas worldwide.
There are no commercially available tomatoes resistant to bacterial canker and management options are limited. However, breeders have known that wild tomato species are less susceptible to bacterial canker, but this knowledge is limited. Scientists at the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University analysed how C. michiganensis colonised the xylem in wild tomatoes and compared this to the colonisation of cultivated tomatoes. The findings, published in Phytopathology, revealed a significant difference.
“Interestingly, the pathogen colonises to high densities close to the inoculation site in wild tomatoes, but it is found in much lower densities 5 and 10 centimetres above that site, meaning that the bacteria are unable to spread through the xylem as well as in cultivated tomato xylem,” said F Christopher Peritore-Galve, lead author of the paper.
The research also indicated that the pathogen was restricted to the protoxylem vessels in vascular bundles of wild tomato.
“Protoxylem are early formed xylem vessels that are smaller in diameter that enable water transport during early, rapid plant growth. We currently do not know why C. michiganensis preferentially colonises these vessels, but that will be an avenue of future research,” Peritore-Galve said.
Determining what enables wild tomatoes to tolerate this pathogen could help with future breeding efforts.
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