First report of potato blackleg caused by Dickeya chrysanthemi in Japan

In 2017, potato plants (cvs. Kitakamui and Konahubuki) with symptoms similar to those of potato blackleg and soft rot diseases were found in seed potato fields of Shiribeshi Subprefecture in Hokkaido, Japan. The causative bacteria were isolated from symptomatic potato stems and identified as Dickeya chrysanthemi based on physiological, biochemical, phenotypic, and genetic characterizations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of potato blackleg disease caused by D. chrysanthemi in Japan. We propose D. chrysanthemi as one of the pathogens of potato blackleg disease.