Identification of Pseudomonas viridiflava on tomato by traditional methods and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

Pseudomonas viridiflava is one of the causal agents of tomato stem necrosis in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. The bacterium causes general wilting, yellowing of tomato plants, dark blotches on the pruning sites of the stem, browning, and hollowing of the pith. P. viridiflava strains, isolated from Antakya and Mersin, were identified by traditional methods and indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). For indirect-ELISA, polyclonal antisera were produced against a regional isolate of P. viridiflava (AD-OZ 3a). Using indirect-ELISA, the pathogenic bacterium was identified rapidly and safely from both pure culture and inoculated plants in 2 days. There was no cross reaction with other stem necrosis pathogens. With indirect-ELISA, the lower limit for P. viridiflava detection in pure culture was 103 colony-forming units per milliliter.This study was supported by The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) as project no. TARP-2364. We thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. E Sahin (University of Ataturk, Erzurum,Turkey) for critical reading of the manuscript; Prof. Dr. O. Cinar and S. Hazar (University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey) for helpful comments on the manuscript; Dr. H. Batur-Michaelis and Dr. E. Mavridis (Georg-August University, G6ttingen, Germany) for providing reference strains of P corrugata, P. viridiflava, P. cichorii, E.c. subsp, atroseptica, E.c. subsp. carotovora and E. chrysanthemi; and Dr. L. Sutra (University of Angers, Angers, France) for providing reference strains of P. mediterranea and P. fluorescens