Crown gall and leafy gall

The purpose of these pages is to provide information on our investigations into the diseases caused by these two bacteria.

Please send comments and questions to Melodie Putnam.

Resources (items in bold are likely to be of interest to growers)

Crown gall (Agrobacterium)

• Plants susceptible to crown gall | View PDF
• Images of crown gall on different hosts | View gallery

Leafy gall (Rhodococcus)

• Leafy gall: all you need to know | View PDF
• Survival and spread of Rhodococcus in the greenhouse (poster) | View PDF
• Naturally occurring hosts of Rhodococcus fascians | View PDF
• Images of symptoms caused by Rhodococcus fascians on different hosts | View gallery
• Artificially inoculated hosts of Rhodococcus fascians | View PDF
• Leafy galls and Rhodococcus | View PDF
• Demystifying Rhodococcus fascians (Digger, February 2014) | View PDF
• The Lowdown on Leafy Gall | View GrowerTalks article from 2019

Scientific papers

Publications

• Weisberg, A.J., Davis, E.J. II, Tabima, J., Belcher, M.S., Miller, M., Chih-Hong Kuo,, C-H., Lai, E-M. Loper, J.E. Grünwald, N.J., Putnam, M.L., and Chang, J.H. 2020. Unexpected conservation and global transmission of agrobacterial virulence plasmids. Science https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6495/eaba5256.full

• Savory, E.A., Fuller, S.L., Weisberg, A.J., Thomas, W.J., Gordon, M.I., Stevens, D.M., Creason A.L., Belcher, M.S., Serdani, M., Wiseman, M.S., Grünwald, N.J., Putnam, M.L., and Chang, J.H. 2017. Evolutionary transitions between beneficial and phytopathogenic Rhodococcus challenge disease management. eLife ;6:e30925. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30925

  Fuller, S.L., Savory, E.A., Weisberg, A.J., Buser, J.Z., Gordon, M.I., Putnam, M.L.5, and Chang, J.H. 2017. Isothermal amplification and lateral-flow assay for detecting crown-gall-causing Agrobacterium spp. Phytopathology, 107:1062-1068. https://doi-org /10.1094/PHYTO-04-17-0144-R

  Creason A.L., Vandeputte O.M., Savory E.A., Davis E.W. II, Putnam M.L., et al. 2014 Analysis of genome sequences from plant pathogenic Rhodococcus reveals genetic novelties in virulence loci. PLoS ONE 9(7): e101996. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101996
• Creason A.L., Davis E.W. II, Putnam M.L., Vandeputte O.M. and Chang J.H. 2014. Use of whole genome sequences to develop a molecular phylogenetic framework for Rhodococcus fascians and the Rhodococcus genus. Frontiers in Plant Science 5:406. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2014.00406 
• Serdani, M., M. Curtis, M.L. Miller, J. Kraus and M.L.Putnam. 2013. Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification and Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods for Specific and Rapid Detection of Rhodococcus fascians. Plant Disease 97:517-529 | View PDF
• Putnam M.L. and M.L. Miller. 2007. Rhodococcus fascians in Herbaceous Perennials. Plant Disease 91:1064-1076
• Putnam M.L. and M. Miller. 2006. Pathogenic isolates of Rhodococcus fascians from new hosts in the United States. Plant Disease 90:526/sites/agscid7/files/bpp/attachments/agrobacterium_hosts_annotated.pdf