Persister State: A Survival Strategy of Erwinia pyrifoliae Against Streptomycin Stress

Erwinia pyrifoliae, the causal agent of black shoot blight in apple and pear, is a destructive phytopathogen that threatens crop protection in Korea. In this study, we report for the first time that E. pyrifoliae can form persister cells in response to lethal concentrations of streptomycin. Tolerance assays demonstrated that these persister cells survived markedly higher levels than normal cell population under antibiotic and oxidative stresses. Transcriptomic profiling revealed distinct molecular features during the persister formation, including the upregulation of toxin antitoxin (TA) systems, stress-response genes, and membrane-associated factors, suggesting an active and metabolically flexible survival strategy.