Abstract
For biological control of Dutch elm disease byPseudomonas spp. a population of these bacteria has to be present within the tree. Gaining insight in the distribution of such bacteria, both spatially within the tree and over time, was one goal of this study, determining limiting factors of the habitat and selection bacteria better adapted to it, the other.
Immunofluorescence microscopy showed bacteria only along the walls of the xylem vessels. Apparently the xylem is the only habitat of the introduced bacteria. The xylem lumen is low in nutrients, the pH proved to be above the minimum value critical for growth ofPseudomonas spp., but the water potential may reach dangerously low values for bacteria. An isolate better adapted to a low water potential proved to establish itself better within elm than the parent strain. Spatial distribution studies suggested that the bacteria did not escape from the vessels in which they were introduced, but bacteria were consistently isolated from the new annual ring in the second growing season. Probably the wound tissue or the root system served as a inoculum source.
Samenvatting
Voor biologische bestrijding van de iepeziekte doorPseudomonas spp. is een zekere populatiedichtheid van deze bacteriën binnen de boom vereist. Doelen van deze studie waren het verwerven van inzicht in de verspreiding van deze bacteriën door de boom en het verloop van de populatiedichtheid in de tijd, het bepalen van de beperkende faktoren van de habitat van de bacteriën en de selektie van isolaten die beter aan deze habitat zouden zijn aangepast.
Immunofluorescentie-microscopie toonde dat de in de iep geinjecteerde bacteriën uitsluitend langs de wanden van de houtvaten voorkwamen. Blijkbaar is het xyleem de enige habitat van de in de boom gebrachte bacteriën. Deze xyleem-inhoud is arm aan voedingsstoffen, de pH bleek voor de getoetstePseudomonas isolaten steeds boven de voor de groei kritische waarden te blijven, maar de waterpotentiaal kan soms voorPseudomonas spp. gevaarlijk lage waarden bereiken. Een bacterie-isolaat dat beter aangepast was aan een lage waterpotentiaal bleek het in de iep beter te doen dan het wildtype. De verspreiding van de bacteriën door de boom bleef beperkt. De bacteriën leken niet te ontsnappen uit de vaten waar ze ingebracht waren. Wel werden in het tweede jaar consistent bacteriën uit de nieuwe jaarring geïsoleerd; wondweefsel of het wortelstelsel leverden mogelijk het inoculum.
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Scheffer, R.J., Elgersma, D.M. & Strobel, G.A. Pseudomonas for biological control of dutch elm disease. Netherlands Journal of Plant Pathology 95, 293–304 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01977733
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01977733