Recent research by Chinese scientists has shown the pathogenic role that bacteria associated with the pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, play in pine wilt disease (PWD). The closelyrelated nematode B. mucronatus is some times pathogenic to conifer trees. Our preliminary work shows that 10 species of bacteria, in 8 genera, i .e Achromobacter sp., Bacillus subtilis, Burkholderia xenovorans, Flavobacterium sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas lurida, Pseudomonas sp., Rahnella aquatilis, Rahnella sp., and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia are associated with nineteen B. mucronatus isolates from different regions of Russia. Pseudomonas fluorescens species was extracted from two B. mucronatus isolates from Zabaykalsky and Altai Krai. The bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens was also found in all B. xylophilus populations by Chinese researches (Zhao, 2008) and they propose that this bacterium is a general agent of PWD.
The work was supported of Russian Foundation for Basic Research, N 10-04-01644a.