Genome sequencing of banana pathogen Dickeya zeae

Dickeya Zeae strain MS1 is the causal bacterium of banana bacterial soft rot. The disease was characterized by an odorous soft rot of the center of the rhizome. The rot progressed up the pseudostem, destroying the growing point and causing internal decay, and was often accompanied by vascular discoloration. However it shows specific gray thallus in culturing compared withother Dickeya pathogens, and is short of the phytotoxin against a range of bacterial pathogens compared with other D. Zeae strains. The purpose of this study is to sequence the whole genome to understand the epidemiology and comparative genomics of this pathogen with other Dickeya strains.