The genome sequence of Pectobacterium atrosepticum (Pba - strain SCRI1043) was obtained by SCRI in collaboration with the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, via a Scottish Government funded grant. The sequence was completed in June 2003 and was the first bacterial plant pathogen to be fully sequenced in the UK. The results of sequencing were published in PNAS in 2004 (Bell et al., 2004). The sequencing project was undertaken in parallel to a Dickeya dadantii (Dda) sequencing project at the University of Wisconsin under the supervision of Professor Nicole Perna, for which SCRI are collaborating partners.
The Pba genome sequence is a primary resource for Scottish Government/BBSRC-funded systems biology grants that use our whole-genome Pba microarrays, real-time PCR, and mathematical approaches to investigate mechanisms of pathogenesis in the Pba-potato interaction. These grants are being undertaken in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, BioSS and the Moredun Research Institute.
The availability of the genome sequence has provided fertile ground for comparative genomics studies to compare and visualise large genome sequence data sets to help identify the main similarities and differences between the enterobacterial plant pathogens and other bacterial plant, animal and human pathogens. Comparative analysis of the Pba genome and its bacterial relatives is revealing insights into the adaptation of this enterobacterium to an agricultural environmental niche, and informing our understanding of the evolution of pathogenicity (Toth et al., 2006).
Microarrays for Pba and Dda designed at SCRI
Bell, K.S., Sebaihia, M., Pritchard, L., Holden, M., Hyman, L.J., Holeva, M.C., Thomson, N.R., Bentley, S.D., Churcher, L.J.C., Mungall, K., Atkin, R., Bason, N., Brooks, K., Chillingworth, T., Clark, K., Doggett, J., Fraser, A., Hance, Z., Hauser, H., Jagels, K., Moule, S., Norbertczak, H., Ormond, D., Price, C., Quail, M.A., Sanders, M., Walker, D., Whitehead, S., Salmond, G.P.C., Birch, P.R.J., Parkhill, J. and Toth, I.K. 2004. Genome sequence of the enterobacterial phytopathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica and characterisation of novel virulence factors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101, 11105-11110.
Toth, I.K., Pritchard, L. and Birch, P.R.J. 2006. Comparative genomics reveals what makes an enterobacterial plant pathogen. Annual Review of Phytopathology 44, 305-336.