Bacteria belonging to the Pectobacterium genus are the causative agents of the blackleg and soft-rot diseases that affect potato plants and tubers worldwide. In Pectobacterium, the expression of the virulence genes is controlled by quorum-sensing (QS) and N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs). In this work, we screened a chemical library of QS-inhibitors (QSIs) and AHL-analogs to find novel QSIs tar...

Root rot symptoms caused by Leptosphaeria maculans were first reported in Australian canola crops in 2001 but little is known about their importance and prevalence. In a survey of over 100 commercial canola crops in southern NSW, all paddocks had plants with root rot symptoms in 2004, whilst 86% of paddocks did in 2003. Across the two seasons surveyed, there was a strong relationship (r = 0.63)...

A real-time PCR assay based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence was designed for differentiation of blackleg-causing Clostridium chauvoei and Clostridium septicum, a phylogenetically closely related bacterium responsible for malignant edema. In order to exclude false-negative results, an internal amplification control was included in the assay. A set of three probes, one specific for C. chauvoei, one...

This study, intending to understand the effects of crop rotation and tillage on blackleg disease, was conducted in a field at Carman, Manitoba, Canada, from 1999 – 2002. Canola, wheat and flax were among the rotated crops. Rotations were performed under conventional or zero-till conditions. The number of infected plants, infected leaves per plant, lesions per plant, and percentage of leaf cover...

Blackleg, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans, is an economically important disease of canola (Brassica napus). Little is known about the current distribution of pathogenicity groups (PGs) of L. maculans in Canada and the United States. Four hundred and eighty-nine isolates of L. maculans or Leptosphaeria biglobosa from western Canada and North Dakota, United States, were placed in five PGs (PG-1 ...