Pantoea eucalypti as a donor or recipient organism for genetic engineering

Pantoea eucalypti is a gram-negative, motile, facultatively anaerobic gammaproteobacterium from the family Erwiniaceae. The bacterium has been isolated from the leaves and rhizosphere of plants (eucalyptus, bird's-foot trefoil), as well as from insects (bark beetles) and the droppings of birds (geese). P. eucalypti grows at 25 to 30°C, although growth is weak after experimental inoculation on corn leaves, onion leaves, or fruit flies at 25°C. Three Canadian isolates of P. eucalypti are known in clinical contexts. There, P. eucalypti was isolated from the bronchial lavage of a 37-year-old man with a cough, a superficial wound from a 52-year-old woman, and the blood of a man of unknown age. The immune or health status of these individuals was not described in the clinical examinations, nor was it known whether other microorganisms besides P. eucalypti co-isolated. P. eucalypti can be multilocus sequence typing from other Pantoea species. Comparison of the 16S rRNA sequence and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), however, are unsuitable for species differentiation. The strain P. eucalypti 299R has been used for several years as model organism for non-pathogenic bacterial Epiphytes The genome of P. eucalypti contains genes for proteins involved in the uptake of sugar compounds, the repair of UV-damaged DNA, the biosynthesis of the osmoprotective compounds trehalose and betaine, indoleacetic acid, thiamine and carotenoid biosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. In TRBA 466 "Classification of Prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea)", P. eucalypti is assigned to risk group 1 with the index "p" (pathogen for plants). In its current statement, the ZKBS classifies Pantoea eucalypti according to Section 5 Paragraph 1 GenTSV in conjunction with the criteria in Annex 1 GenTSV as a donor and recipient organism for genetic engineering work in the Risk group 1 The reasoning states that isolates of P. eucalypti In only very few isolated cases, P. eucalypti has been identified in clinical contexts in patient materials or in plants with symptoms of disease. However, there are currently no systematic reports or studies in which P. eucalypti has been identified as a causative agent of disease in immunocompetent humans or animals, or in plants.

The current ZKBS statement on P. eucalypti can be found at File number 45241.0234 can be retrieved.