ABSTRACT Bacterial halo blight, caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. garcae, is an important disease of coffee crop occurring in Brazil and other countries. In recent years, outbreaks of this disease have damaged several coffee crops in Brazil. Aggressiveness and genetic diversity of 25 strains of P. s. pv. garcae, obtained between the years 1958 and 2011, in 23 cities of São Paulo and Minas Gerais states, as well as three strains from Kenya were evaluated in this study. The strains were inoculated on coffee seedlings cultivar Mundo Novo, and their genetic diversity was evaluated by ERIC-PCR, REP-PCR, and their combination. All the strains were pathogenic to the coffee seedlings; the results of pathogenicity tests, in both experiments, could be divided in four aggressiviness classes (highly aggressive; aggressive; moderately aggressive and less aggressive). The Kenyan strains grouped separately from the Brazilian strains with ERIC-PCR and the combination of ERIC- and REP-PCR. The Brazilian strains could be grouped in two sub-clusters, the first including the older strains, obtained from 1958 to 1978, and the other comprising the remaining strains. With a few exceptions, strains isolated from 1997 to 2011, grouped mainly by their region of origin, were predominantly isolated from higher altitude regions, above 800 m. This probably occurred because the climatic conditions that prevail in these regions, characterized by milder temperatures and regular rainfall, are favorable for the coffee crop and for the production of high quality coffee beverage, but can be also favorable to bacterial halo blight.

RESUMO: Bactérias da espécie Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, 1902, causam perdas na produção em inúmeras culturas de importância econômica. Em cafeeiros, P. syringae pv. garcae provoca a mancha-aureolada e P. syringae pv. tabaci ocasiona a mancha-foliar-bacteriana, doenças cuja ocorrência e agressividade têm aumentado nos últimos anos no Brasil. Embora a idade das folhas influencie na expressão da severidade de mancha-aureolada, não se sabe ainda se essa influência se mantém em plantas infectadas por estirpes altamente virulentas da bactéria. Desse modo, o presente estudo foi realizado com a finalidade de examinar diferenças na severidade de mancha-aureolada em folhas de cafeeiro com diferentes idades, bem como estudar comparativamente tais aspectos na interação entre cafeeiro e mancha-foliar-bacteriana, empregando-se isolados altamente virulentos. Os resultados evidenciaram que, assim como a mancha-aureolada, a severidade da mancha-bacteriana também é maior em folhas jovens do primeiro internódio, entretanto, as estirpes mais agressivas de P. syringae pv. garcae e P. syringae pv. tabaci provocaram danos de magnitude semelhantes em folhas de diferentes idades, do primeiro ao quinto internódio.

ABSTRACT: Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, 1902, causes yield losses in innumerous economic important crops. On coffee trees, P. syringae pv. garcae causes the bacterial-halo-blight (BHB) and P. syringae pv. tabaci the bacterial-leaf-spot (BLS). Recently, these diseases incidence has increase in occurrence areas and aggressiveness in Brazil. Although leaf age plays a role in the severity response of BHB, it is not known yet if this phenomenon also occurs in coffee-BLS interaction, and with highly virulent strains. So, we examined differences in the diseases severity by inoculation of P. syringae pv. garcae and P. syringae pv. tabaci strains on coffee leaves with different ages, to compare this aspect with coffee-BLS interaction. Our results showed that, for both pathovars, the severity was greater at the first internodes leaves, although for the most aggressive strains it was quite similar on any leaf age.

ABSTRACT The bacterial-halo-blight (Pseudomonas syringae pv. garcae) is disseminated by the main coffee areas in the producing states of Brazil. On the other hand, the disease bacterial-leaf-spot (Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci) was reported only once in coffee seedlings in a sample collected in the State of São Paulo. In mid-2015, samples of coffee leaves with symptoms of foliar lesions surrounded by yellow halo, were collected in coffee plantations in the State of Paraná and fluorescent bacteria producing or not brown pigment in culture medium were isolated and determined as belonging to the Group I of P. syringae. Through biochemical, serological and pathogenicity tests, the pathogens were identified as P. syringae pv. garcae and P. syringae pv. tabaci, with prevalence of isolates belonging to pathovar tabaci and, as well as in certain samples, it was identified simultaneous infection by both etiological agents. Then, this is the first report of associated occurrence of garcae and tabaci pathovars of P. syringae and of the incidence of “bacterial-leaf-spot” under field conditions and in the State of Paraná.

RESUMO: Há várias bactérias que causam problemas para o cafeeiro, incluindo Pseudomonas cichorii, P. syringae pv. garcae, P. syringae pv. tabaci, Burkholderia andropogonis e Xylella fastidiosa, todas elas já descritas no Brasil. Tentativas de diferenciar essas bactérias por testes serológicos de dupla difusão em ágar (dda), com antissoros produzidos contra células íntegras de P. s. pv. garcae, mostraram reações cruzadas, principalmente entre P. s. pv. garcae e P. s. pv. tabaci. Dessa forma, foram produzidos antissoros contra P. s. pv. garcae (linhagem patotipo IBSBF-248 - Coleção de Culturas de Fitobactérias do Instituto Biológico - IBSBF), obtidos por meio de imunizações de coelhos com antígenos de proteínas do complexo proteico da membrana (CPM). Esses antissoros foram testados por dupla difusão em agarose (dda) contra diversas formas de antígenos extraídos de P. cichorii, P. s. pv. garcae e P. s. pv. tabaci [células autoclavadas, células tratadas com formol, exopolissacarídeos (EPS), glicoproteínas (GP) da cápsula bacteriana, proteínas de membrana e suspensão bacteriana (SB) em NaCl 0,85%]. Os resultados mostraram que, dependendo do antígeno e do meio suporte da dupla difusão (com ou sem MgCl2 e/ou azul de tripano), os antissoros reagem somente com P. s. pv. garcae. Desse modo, esses antígenos podem ser usados para a rápida diagnose da mancha aureolada do cafeeiro nos testes de dda.

ABSTRACT: Some bacterial diseases have been described causing problems in coffee, whose causal agents are Pseudomonas cichorii, P. syringae pv. garcae, P. s. pv. tabaci and Burkholderia andropogonis, all of them also occurring in Brazil. Attempts to differentiate these bacteria by double diffusion agar (dda) technique with antisera produced against whole cells of P. s. pv. garcae showed cross-reactions, especially among P. s. pv. garcae and P. s. pv. tabaci. Thus, antisera were produced against P. s. pv. garcae (pathotype strain IBSBF-248 - Phytobacteria Culture Collection of Instituto Biológico - IBSBF), using rabbit immunizations with antigens of the protein complex of membranes. These antisera were tested against different kind of antigens (autoclaved cells, cells treated with formaldehyde, capsule polysaccharides, glycoproteins, bacterial membrane proteins and bacterial suspension in 0.85% NaCl) extracted from P. cichorii, P. s. pv. garcae and P. s. pv. tabaci. The results showed that depending on the kind of antigen and the medium used in the double diffusion test (with or without MgCl2 and/or trypan blue), the antiserum reacted only with P. s. pv. garcae. Thus, these antigens may be used as an auxiliary tool in the rapid diagnosis of bacterial halo blight of coffee in the double diffusion test.