Genome sequences of distinct genotypes of bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. euvesicatoria from pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in Serbia

TL;DR

This study provides genome sequences of three Xanthomonas euvesicatoria strains from Serbia, revealing insights into their genetic diversity and plasmid content related to virulence.

Contribution

The paper presents new genome sequences of Xeu strains from Serbia, including their plasmid content and phylogenetic relationships.

Findings

The three Serbian Xeu strains share a 75 kb plasmid containing T3SS effector genes.

Strain X13 shares sequence similarity with two additional plasmids containing T3SS effector genes.

The strains lack a 31 kb plasmid found in other Xeu strains from Vietnam and Canada.

Abstract

This Technical Resource presents genome sequence data for three strains of the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. euvesicatoria (Xeu) collected in Serbia. We isolated these strains from pepper crops showing bacterial spot symptoms in 2016 at the municipality of Irig, in the Srem district. The presented data comprise raw sequencing reads and annotated, contig-level genome assemblies. We checked for the presence of sequences of known type-3 secretion system (T3SS) effector genes and plasmid-like sequences. Phylogenomic reconstruction revealed that the three strains fell in the same clade within Xeu. Strain X13 is most closely related to strain 66b, collected in Bulgaria in 2012. Strains X22 and X31 are most closely related to Tu-10 collected in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Türkiye in 2020. In common with other members of the clade, all three strains share a 75 kb plasmid that carries T3SS effector genes avrBs3, xopBA, xopAQ and xopE. Additionally, strain X13 shares extensive sequence similarity to the pXCV183 plasmid, including T3SS effector gene xopAX, and shares extensive sequence similarity with plasmid pXap41, including T3SS effector gene xopE3. This difference in plasmid content might contribute to the observed difference in virulence among the Serbian Xeu strains. The three Serbian strains lack a 31 kb plasmid, pLMG730.4, that is seen in several Vietnamese and Canadian strains within this clade of Xeu. The data presented will be a useful resource for future molecular epidemiology and genomic surveillance of this pathogen in the Balkan region, augmenting the previously available draft genome sequences of Xeu strains 66b (Bulgaria) and 83M (North Macedonia).

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