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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research communications

Early Access

In vitro screening reveals high-level resistance to a virulent Erwinia amylovora isolate in native Malus sieversii

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11952
Submitted
1 October 2025
Published
16-12-2025

Abstract

Fire blight, caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora, is a destructive disease that threatens global apple production and the native forests of Malus sieversii in Kazakhstan, the primary progenitor of domesticated apples. To identify sources of genetic resistance, we screened ten native M. sieversii genotypes using an in vitro shoot inoculation assay with a virulent local isolate of E. amylovora. Disease severity was measured as the percentage of lesion length (PLL). Genotype 6.1 exhibited complete resistance (0 % PLL), whereas three other genotypes (1.2, 5.3 and 6.2) were highly resistant. In contrast, genotypes 1.1 and 5.1 were highly susceptible to infection. Molecular screening for sequence-characterised amplified region (SCAR) markers linked to the major fire blight resistance locus, FBF7, revealed that the highly resistant genotype 5.3 was positive for the AE10-375 marker. However, the completely resistant genotype 6.1 and the other highly resistant individuals lacked both FBF7-linked markers. These results demonstrate the presence of the known FBF7 locus and suggest the existence of potentially novel genetic resistance sources in this wild population.

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