Complete genome sequence of the fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora strain Ea1189

Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight, the most devastating bacterial disease of apples and pears in the United States and worldwide. The model strain E. amylovora Ea1189 has been extensively used to understand bacterial pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms of bacterial-plant interactions. In this work, we sequenced and assembled the de novo genome of Ea1189, using a combination of long Oxford Nanopore Technologies and short Illumina sequence reads.

A complete gapless genome assembly of Ea1189 consists of a 3,797,741-bp circular chromosome and a 28,259-bp plasmid with 3,472 predicted genes, including 78 transfer RNAs, 22 ribosomal RNAs, and 20 noncoding RNAs. A comparison of the Ea1189 genome to previously sequenced E. amylovora complete genomes showed 99.94 to 99.97% sequence similarity with 314 to 946 single nucleotide polymorphisms.

We believe that the availability of the complete genome sequence of strain Ea1189 will further support studies to understand evolution, diversity and structural variations of Erwinia strains, as well as the molecular basis of E. amylovora pathogenesis and its interactions with host plants, thus facilitating the development of effective management strategies for this important disease.