Tatumella ptyseos, an Unrevealed Causative Agent of Pink Disease in Pineapple

Pink disease is a major problem in the pineapple canning industry. Affected fruit acquire a brownish pigment after pasteurization and can contaminate non-affected fruit before they are released to the consumer. In the last few years, Pantoea citrea has been described as the causative agent of pink disease. In this study, over 300 bacterial isolates from pineapple plants, growing in Mexican commercial fields, and from soil close to plant roots were recovered. Over 250 isolates showed a very high similarity in their phenotypic and genotypic traits with Tatumella ptyseos, a close relative of Pantoea. These isolates exhibited typical pathogenicity reactions in pineapple juice tests, pineapple slices and fruit. On this basis, molecular identification procedures for the Tatumella isolates associated with pink disease were implemented. In affected fruit populations around 106 CFU/g of fresh tissue were recovered. This is first time that T. ptyseos is demonstrated as a causal agent of pink disease.