Characterization of pseudomonads isolated from decaying sporocarps of oyster mushroom.

Pleurotus ostreatus is one of the most extensively cultivated mushrooms in the world; however, the success of cultivation often depends on the proliferation of different bacterial pathogens. Pseudomonas tolaasii is thought as the major cause of brown blotch disease of Agaricus bisporus and yellowing of Pleurotus ostreatus. In this study we examined the pathogenicity and assessed the industrial damage causing effect of 41 Pseudomonas strains isolated from deformed, yellowing oyster mushroom (P. ostreatus) sporocarps. Identification of the isolates at species level by the partial sequence analysis of the hypervariable region of the rpoB gene revealed nine Pseudomonas sps. We analyzed the presence of the tolaasin gene-cluster, the production of fluorescent pigments, the oxidase- and nitrite reductase activities, the growth at restrictive temperatures and the carbon source utilizing abilities of each strain. Complex lipopeptide production (including tolaasin) was examined with thin layer chromatography and a novel in vitro necrosis-test was developed and evaluated for the investigation of the pathogenic effect of Pseudomonas strains. Our results underline the importance of extracellular enzyme production in the sporocarp decaying process. Strong correlations were found between the secretion of trypsin-like proteases and lipases and the necrotic effect of these bacteria. All the results clearly established that besides Ps. tolaasii, Ps. fluorescens biovar V strains were pathogenic to P. ostreatus and cause serious losses during mushroom production. Our results underline the importance of extracellular enzyme production in the sporocarp decaying process, especially the trypsin-like proteases and lipases.