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Rapid Diagnosis of Pseudomonas syringae pv. papulans, the Causal Agent of Blister Spot of Apple, by Polymerase Chain Reaction Using Specifically Designed hrpL Gene Primers

The identification and detection of Pseudomonas syringae pv. papulans, the causal agent of blister spot of apple, on apple leaves and fruit was achieved by polymerase chain reaction amplification of a specific DNA fragment of the hrpL sequence. The consensus primers hrpL₁ and hrpL₂ were designed based on the alignment of pseudomonad hrpL gene sequences available in nucleic acid data banks. This primer set produced a 631-bp amplicon from 37 of the 57 pseudomonads strains tested. These strains belonged to genomospecies 1 and 2, as described by Gardan et al. (8). The amplicon obtained from 30 of these strains was digested with eight restriction enzymes. Three different restriction patterns were produced from strains belonging to genomospecies 1, resulting in A1 and A2 patterns, while strains belonging to genomospecies 2 were characterized by a B pattern. Patterns A1 and A2 differed at only two sites, a Bsp 143I site located at nucleotide 360 and a MseI site located at nucleotides 22--24. Group A2 consisted solely of P. syringae pv. papulans strains. The hrpL gene in P. syringae pv. papulans strain CFBP3323 was sequenced. Two primer sets, Pap1/Pap2 and Pap1/Pap3, were designed and tested for specificity to P. syringae pv. papulans. These primers amplified expected fragments of 242 and 303 bp, respectively. Pap1/Pap2 amplified a fragment only with P. syringae pv. papulans DNA, while Pap1/Pap3 amplified all tested strains belonging to genomospecies 1. A diagnostic procedure using the Pap1/Pap2 primer set was successful for the detection of P. syringae pv. papulans in diseased fruit and artificially inoculated leaves.