Bacterial panicle blight (BPB) is one of the emerging diseases of paddy in the Tarai region of Uttarakhand and the disease problem is increasing every year. The present investigation was conducted to examine the Burkholderia glumae isolates causing bacterial panicle blight (BPB) disease in rice by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of four housekeeping genes atpD, recA and gltB. The atpD gene sequence of Indian strains BG1 and BG2 from UP, BG5 and BG6 from Delhi showed 100% nucleotide homology with NCBI strain B. glumae 3BGNY2-4 isolated from rice in China with grouping together in the same clade, however, other Burkholderia spp, showed lower nucleotide identity and formed a separate cluster from all the B. glumae strains. The gltB and recA gene sequence of Indian strains showed 100% nucleotide identity with NCBI strain B. glumae 336gr-1 and B. glumae HN2 respectively, thus confirming the species to be B. glumae. Similarly, in the phylogenetic tree of gltB and recA gene sequence all four Indian isolates clustered together in the phylogenetic tree where BG5 and BG6 strain from Delhi shared the same clade. Thus, based on the grouping of atpD, gltB and recA gene sequence and phylogenetic analysis of all four Indian isolates of BPB pathogen of rice confirmed the species identity as B. glumae. Thus, present study reveals use of multiple genes for species identification and classification of B. glumae.

MLSA, atpD, recA, gltB and Burkholderia glumae

Our study brings an overview on using different housekeeping genes for characterising isolates of B. glumae using the sequences of internal fragments of three house-keeping genes atpD, gltB and recA. It can be used for bacterial identification and classification as it offers the opportunity for provision of a more in depth view of the phylogenetic relationships of Burkholderia spp. As the pathogen is of quarantine importance, this knowledge can be used for the monitoring the disease globally.

Sanjeev Kumar, Kalyan K. Mondal, Thungri Ghoshal, Aditya Kulshreshtha, Sreenayana B., Amrutha Lakshmi M., Mrutyunjaya S., Rashmi E.R., Kalaivanan N.S. and Chandra Mani (2022). Multilocus Sequence Analysis of Burkholderia glumae Strains from Indian Hot Spot Regions causing Bacterial Panicle Blight of Rice (Oryza sativa L.). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4a): 639-646.