VIEW ARTICLE

Physiology and Biochemistry

Production of a Host-Specific, Wilt-Inducing Toxin in Apple Cell Suspension Cultures Inoculated with Erwinia amylovora. Shih -Tien Hsu, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201, Present address of senior author: Department of Plant Pathology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; Robert N. Goodman, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201. Phytopathology 68:351-354. Accepted for publication 10 August 1977. Copyright © 1978 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-68-351.

A wilt-inducing toxin was detected in filtrates prepared from apple cell suspension cultures (ACSC) which had been inoculated with Erwinia amylovora. The toxin induced rapid wilting of susceptible host (apple) but not of nonhost plants (tomato and tobacco). The toxin was produced by a virulent strain but not by an avirulent strain of the pathogen. Growth of the virulent bacteria paralleled production of the toxin in the suspension cultures. The virulent strain of the bacterium produced high amounts of toxin in living ACSC, but little or none was produced in heat-killed ACSC or extracts of ACSC.