Plant diseases associated with the bacterium Serratia marcescens
While Serratia marcescens (Enterobacteriaceae) was initially thought to cause cucurbit yellow vine disease (CYVD), it has now been shown that the disease is caused by S. ureilytica (EPPO RS 2026/101). However, various other plant diseases have been attributed to S. marcescens and, in the absence of further information, are still considered to be caused by S. marcescens, such as: soft rot on bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) in Venezuela, yellow wilt on sunflower (Helianthus annuus) in the Russian Federation, leaf necrosis on oleander (Nerium oleander) in Hungary, decay of onion (Allium cepa) in Ukraine, leaf rot on cannabis (Cannabis sativa) in the USA, leaf chlorosis and necrosis on squash (Cucurbita pepo var. styriaca) and central bud rot of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) in Iran, black rot of orange fruit (Citrus sinensis) in Bangladesh, as well as, in China, whorl rot on maize (Zea mays), soft rot on cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), seed necrosis on lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), root rot on fuzi (Aconitum carmichaelii), soft rot of ginger rhizomes (Zingiber officinale).
Serratia marcescens is widely present in the environment such as in water, soil, vertebrates, insects and plants. Some strains have been found associated with diseases in humans, animals, corals and plants, while some others are considered to be endophytes, plant growth promoting, or as potential biocontrol agents. S. marcescens appears to have a wide distribution worldwide. Many records relate to human pathogenic strains. It was not possible to fully document its distribution.
The information on S. marcescens in EPPO Global Database has been updated: https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/SERRMA
Sources
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