Ralstonia solanacearum phages ΦRP12 and ΦRP31 are jumbo phages isolated in Thailand. Here we show that they exhibit similar virion morphology, genome organization and host range. Genome comparisons as well as phylogenetic and proteomic tree analyses support that they belong to the group of ΦKZ-related phages, with their closest relatives being R. solanacearum phages ΦRSL2 and ΦRSF1. Compared wi...

The study was undertaken to assess whether seedling age played any role in governing the vulnerability of tomato to the bacterial wilt pathogen, Ralstonia solanacearum, based on the preliminary observations that the extent of mortality during seedling-stage screening was relatively less in older seedlings. Employing the virulent strain ‘NH-Av01’ isolated from tomato, 2-, 3-, 4or 5-weekold seedl...

This study aims to isolate and identify the causal pathogen of tomato bacterial wilt in Egypt. In 2008, tomato plants showing typical symptoms of bacterial wilt disease with no foliar yellowing were observed in Minia, Assiut and Sohag governorates, Egypt. When cut stems of symptomatic plants were submerged in water, whitish ooze was evident and longitudinal sections showed a brown discoloration...

Most strains of the bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum are tropical, but race 3 biovar 2 (R3bv2) strains can attack plants in temperate zones and tropical highlands. The basis of this distinctive ecological trait is not understood. We compared the survival of tropical, R3bv2, and warm-temperate North American strains of R. solanacearum under different conditions. In water at 4 degre...

Some phages from genus Inovirus use host or bacteriophage-encoded site-specific integrases or recombinases establish a prophage state. During integration or excision, a superinfective form can be produced. The three states (free, prophage, and superinfective) of such phages exert different effects on host bacterial phenotypes. In Ralstonia solanacearum, the causative agent of bacterial wilt dis...

Bacterial wilt caused by plant pathogenic Ralstonia spp. is one of the most important diseases affecting the production of many important crops worldwide. In China, a large scientific community has been dedicated to studying bacterial wilt and its causative agent, Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum and R. solanacearum. Most of their work was published in Chinese, which has hindered international comm...

The bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum is a widely accepted model organism for the study of pathogenicity in plants [1]. This soil-borne bacterium, which belongs to the betaproteobacteria, is responsible for bacterial wilt on more than 200 plant species from 50 botanical families, including important crops such as potato, tomato, eggplant, pepper, tobacco and banana. In fact, bacterial wilt is co...