Dominance of Enterobacter spp. in Asymptomatic Sweet Potato Tubers Grown in Foot Rot-infested Fields

Since 2018, foot rot disease caused by Diaporthe destruens has emerged as a serious threat to sweet potato production in Japan. Although plant-associated bacteria have been suggested to contribute to disease suppression, the bacterial community structure of asymptomatic sweet potato tubers in foot rot-infested fields remains unclear. In the present study, we analyzed the bacterial communities of asymptomatic tubers collected adjacent to infected tubers from four foot rot-infested fields. Thirteen bacterial taxa with >1% relative abundance were detected, among which Enterobacter (ASV-129 sequence; 427 bp) was dominant, accounting for an average of 49.4% of total 16S rRNA gene amplicon reads. Forty bacterial strains were isolated from asymptomatic sweet potato tubers using R2A agar plates. Among them, strain 12CK showed 100% sequence identity to ASV-129 and was identified as Enterobacter hormaechei based on a genome anal-ysis (genome size: 4,832,483 bp). In the present study, D. destruens 2YO was also isolated from infected plants, and its pathogenicity was confirmed. In growth inhibition assays (dual culture assay), E. hormaechei 12CK strongly inhibited the growth of D. destruens 2YO. Pot and field trials will be required to examine the applicability of strain 12CK as a microbial biocontrol agent.