scholarly journals Prevalence of Streptomycin-Resistant Erwinia amylovora in New York Apple Orchards

Plant Disease ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 802-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Tancos ◽  
S. Villani ◽  
S. Kuehne ◽  
E. Borejsza-Wysocka ◽  
D. Breth ◽  
...  

Resistance to streptomycin in Erwinia amylovora was first observed in the United States in the 1970s but was not found in New York until 2002, when streptomycin-resistant (SmR) E. amylovora was isolated from orchards in Wayne County. From 2011 to 2014, in total, 591 fire blight samples representing shoot blight, blossom blight, and rootstock blight were collected from 80 apple orchards in New York. From these samples, 1,280 isolates of E. amylovora were obtained and assessed for streptomycin resistance. In all, 34 SmR E. amylovora isolates were obtained from 19 individual commercial orchards. The majority of the resistant isolates were collected from orchards in Wayne County, and the remaining were from other counties in western New York. Of the 34 resistant isolates, 32 contained the streptomycin resistance gene pair strA/strB in the transposon Tn5393 on the nonconjugative plasmid pEA29. This determinant of streptomycin resistance has only been found in SmR E. amylovora isolates from Michigan and the SmR E. amylovora isolates discovered in Wayne County, NY in 2002. Currently, our data indicate that SmR E. amylovora is restricted to counties in western New York and is concentrated in the county with the original outbreak. Because the resistance is primarily present on the nonconjugative plasmid, it is possible that SmR has been present in Wayne County since the introduction in 2002, and has spread within and out of Wayne County to additional commercial growers over the past decade. However, research is still needed to provide in-depth understanding of the origin and spread of the newly discovered SmR E. amylovora to reduce the spread of streptomycin resistance into other apple-growing regions, and address the sustainability of streptomycin use for fire blight management in New York.

Plant Disease ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 714-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole L. Russo ◽  
Thomas J. Burr ◽  
Deborah I. Breth ◽  
Herb S. Aldwinckle

Streptomycin is currently the only antibiotic registered for the control of fire blight, a devastating disease of apple (Malus), pear (Pyrus), and other rosaceous plants caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora. Resistance of E. amylovora to streptomycin was first identified in California pear orchards in 1971 and is currently endemic in many parts of the United States. The Northeast remains the only major U.S. apple-growing region without streptomycin-resistant isolates of E. amylovora. In 2002, during a routine survey for streptomycin resistance, isolates from two neighboring orchards in Wayne County, NY were found to be highly resistant to streptomycin at a concentration of 100 μg/ml. This constitutes the first authenticated report of streptomycin resistance in New York State. Infected trees were shipped at the same time from a single nursery in Michigan. Resistance was caused by the acquisition of the strA-strB gene pair, inserted into the ubiquitous nontransmissible E. amylovora plasmid pEA29. Previously, streptomycin-resistant E. amylovora populations from Michigan were described with a similar mechanism of resistance, although the strA-strB genes are not unique to Michigan. These findings illustrate how unintentional movement of nursery material could undermine efforts to prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant E. amylovora.


Plant Disease ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 100 (7) ◽  
pp. 1307-1313 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Tancos ◽  
K. D. Cox

Streptomycin is the most effective and widely used chemical control in the eastern United States for blossom blight of apple caused by Erwinia amylovora; however, resistance to this antibiotic has been a concern in New York since 2002. From 2011 to 2014, statewide collections of E. amylovora were conducted resulting in the isolation of streptomycin-resistant (SmR) E. amylovora from several commercial orchards. Further genetic analysis of isolates was necessary to understand the origins and the diversity of these bacteria. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) spacer sequencing was employed to explore the diversity and possible origins of New York SmR E. amylovora isolates. The spacer array CR1, CR2, and CR3 regions of 27 SmR E. amylovora isolates and 76 streptomycin-sensitive (SmS) E. amylovora isolates were amplified and subsequently sequenced, revealing 19 distinct CRISPR spacer profiles for New York isolates. The majority of SmR E. amylovora isolates had the same CRISPR profile as SmR E. amylovora isolates discovered in 2002. This may infer that eradication efforts in 2002 failed and the bacterial populations continued to spread throughout the state. Several CRISPR profiles for SmR E. amylovora were identical to SmS E. amylovora collected from the same orchards, leading to the hypothesis that resistance may be developing within New York. Profiles not unique to New York were identical to many isolates from the Midwestern, eastern, and western United States, implying that streptomycin resistance may be due to the introduction of SmR E. amylovora from other regions of the United States. The increased understanding as to how SmR E. amylovora isolates are introduced, evolve, or have become established afforded by CRISPR profiling has been useful for disease management and restricting the movement of streptomycin resistance in New York.


Plant Disease ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 97 (11) ◽  
pp. 1484-1490 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. Jurgens ◽  
M. Babadoost

In 2008 and 2009, severe fire blight (Erwinia amylovora) occurred in Illinois apple orchards, leading to speculation that streptomycin-resistant strains of E. amylovora might be present in some orchards. Statewide surveys were conducted in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and 117, 129, and 170, E. amylovora isolates were collected, respectively, from 20 counties. None of the 416 E. amylovora isolates tested were resistant to streptomycin (Agri-Mycin 17WP) at 50 mg/liter. Seven non-E. amylovora bacterial isolates were collected from E. amylovora-infected shoots that contained both a strA-strB streptomycin resistance gene and IS1133 on transposon Tn5393, which could be a potential source of streptomycin resistance for E. amylovora in Illinois in the future. Colony development of all 84 E. amylovora isolates tested was inhibited on Luria-Bertani medium amended with oxytetracycline at 50 mg/liter and kasugamycin (Kasumin 2L) at 100 mg/liter. Similarly, colony development of the 84 E. amylovora isolates was inhibited on casitone-yeast extract medium amended with copper sulfate at 0.16 mM. In 2011 and 2012, field trials were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of oxytetracycline (Mycoshield 17WP), kasugamycin (Kasumin 2L and ARY-4016-06), copper hydroxide (Kocide-3000 41.6DF), Bacillus subtilis (Serenade Max, QST713), and Pseudomonas fluorescens (Blight Ban A506) for management of fire blight in an apple orchard. Only kasugamycin (Kasumin 2L and ARY-4016-06) reduced blossom infection significantly. There was a significant interaction of kasugamycin (Kasumin 2L) with prohexadione calcium (Apogee 27.5DF) in reducing shoot blight incidence in the field in 2012.


Plant Disease ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wallis ◽  
Isabella Magna Yannuzzi ◽  
Mei-Wah Choi ◽  
John Spafford ◽  
Matthew Siemon ◽  
...  

Fire blight, caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora, is one of the most important diseases of apple. The antibiotic streptomycin is routinely used in the commercial apple industries of New York and New England to manage the disease. In 2002, and again from 2011 to 2014, outbreaks of streptomycin resistance (SmR) were reported and investigated in NY. Motivated by new grower reports of control failures, we conducted a follow-up investigation of the distribution of SmR and E. amylovora strains for major apple production regions of NY over the last six years (2015-2020). Characterization of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) profiles revealed that a few ‘cosmopolitan’ strains were widely prevalent across regions, while many other ‘resident’ strains were confined to one location. In addition, we uncovered novel CRISPR profile diversity in all investigated regions. SmR E. amylovora was detected only in a small area spanning two counties from 2017 to 2020, and always associated with one CRISPR profile (41:23:38), which matched the profile of SmR E. amylovora discovered in 2002. This suggests the original SmR E. amylovora was never fully eradicated and went undetected due to several seasons of low disease pressure in this region. Investigation of several representative isolates under controlled greenhouse conditions indicated significant differences in aggressiveness on ‘Gala’ apples. Potential implications of strain differences include the propensity of strains to become distributed across wide geographic regions and associated resistance management practices. Results from this work will directly influence sustainable fire blight management recommendations for commercial apple industries in NY State and other regions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-61
Author(s):  
Madeline Bourque Kearin

This paper deconstructs the folklore surrounding an early twentieth-century zinc figure of an American Indian that stands in the center of the village of Mount Kisco, New York. The identity that “Chief Kisco” has assumed over the past hundred years elides the nature of the origins of the statue, which was intended not as a statement of communal identity, but rather as the exact opposite. As a ready-made art object, the statue was emblematic of a new network of commodified goods that transformed the cultural geography of the United States; as it was utilized in Mount Kisco, the statue was a piece of temperance propaganda with strong nativist undertones that tapped directly into the class, religious, and ethnic divisions running through the turn-of-the-century village.


1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén G. Rumbaut

In at least one sense the “American century” is ending much as it had begun: the United States has again become a nation of immigrants, and it is again being transformed in the process. But the diversity of the “new immigration” to the United States over the past three decades differs in many respects from that of the last period of mass immigration in the first three decades of the century. The immigrants themselves differ greatly in their social class and national origins, and so does the American society, polity, and economy that receives them—raising questions about their modes of incorporation, and challenging conventional accounts of assimilation processes that were framed during that previous epoch. The dynamics and future course of their adaptation are open empirical questions—as well as major questions for public policy, since the outcome will shape the future contours of American society. Indeed, as the United States undergoes its most profound demographic transformation in a century; as inexorable processes of globalization, especially international migrations from Asia, Africa, and the Americas, diversify still further the polyethnic composition of its population; and as issues of immigration, race and ethnicity become the subject of heated public debate, the question of incorporation, and its serious study, becomes all the more exigent. The essays in this special issue of Sociological Perspectives tackle that subject from a variety of analytical vantages and innovative approaches, covering a wide range of groups in major areas of immigrant settlement. Several of the papers focus specifically on Los Angeles and New York City, where, remarkably, fully a quarter of the total U.S. immigrant population resides.


Author(s):  
Andras Z. Szeri

Experts estimate that in 1978 alone over 4.22 × 1018 joule of energy were lost in the United States due to simple friction and wear — enough energy to supply New York City for the entire year. Energy loss through friction in tribo-elements is a major factor in limits on energy efficiency [1]. The two major approaches that have been pursued in the past for reducing frictional losses in tribological contacts were surface modification techniques such as laser texturing and modification of lubricant properties. Here we advocate yet another option, modification of the structural character of the lubricant film. The Composite-Film bearing (CFB) is investigating this third possibility.


Worldview ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 16-20
Author(s):  
Paul Ramsey

What are the imperatives for strategic thinking for the seventies? At the beginning of the seventies the United States adheres even more firmly to a policy of minimum or finite deterrence. Our power at all other levels of war and deterrence is increasingly challenged or outstripped. Even the possible vulnerability of our nuclear forces is tolerated for the sake of strategic disarmament treaties to come. It is difficult to tell the difference, for example, between editorials on strategic questions in the New York Times over the past two or three years and Dulles's “more bang for a buck” policy. The upshot seems clearly to be a i greater reliance on the most politically immoral nuclear posture imaginable, namely, Mutual Assured Destruction.


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