Identification of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae isolateds from stone fruit trees by specific fingerprinting with REP sequence

Repetitive PCR fingerprinting of 24 strains of P. syringae pv. syringae isolated from different host/areas were compared with a standard strain of Pss from Greece (BPIC 242). Bacterial DNA was prepared with three known methods i.e. freeze-boil, whole colony boiling and directly from washed leaf surface. Initial result showed no purified genomic DNA extraction was necessary for rep-PCR analysis. On the other hand, Rep patherns of Pss showed some correlation between host specialization and its habitant with genomic diversity. Strains isolated from stone fruits formed a distinct cluster from wheat and sugar beet strains and a similar pathern was found among all stone fruits strains in confined geographical areas. Therefore it was found the rep-PCR technique as a rapid, simple and producible method to identify and classify these important plant pathogens.