In addition to human and animal diseases, bacteria of the genus Burkholderia can cause plant diseases. The representative species of rice-pathogenic Burkholderia are Burkholderia glumae, B. gladioli, and B. plantarii, which primarily cause grain rot, sheath rot, and seedling blight, respectively, resulting in severe reductions in rice production. Though Burkholderia rice pathogens cause problems in rice-growing countries, comprehensive studies of these rice-pathogenic species aiming to control Burkholderia-mediated diseases are only in the early stages. We first sequenced the complete genome of B. plantarii ATCC 43733T. Second, we conducted comparative analysis of the newly sequenced B. plantarii ATCC 43733T genome with eleven complete or draft genomes of B. glumae and B. gladioli strains. Furthermore, we compared the genome of three rice Burkholderia pathogens with those of other Burkholderia species such as those found in environmental habitats and those known as animal/human pathogens. These B. glumae, B. gladioli, and B. plantarii strains have unique genes involved in toxoflavin or tropolone toxin production and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-mediated bacterial immune system. Although the genome of B. plantarii ATCC 43733T has many common features with those of B. glumae and B. gladioli, this B. plantarii strain has several unique features, including quorum sensing and CRISPR/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) systems. The complete genome sequence of B. plantarii ATCC 43733T and publicly available genomes of B. glumae BGR1 and B. gladioli BSR3 enabled comprehensive comparative genome analyses among three rice-pathogenic Burkholderia species responsible for tissue rotting and seedling blight. Our results suggest that B. glumae has evolved rapidly, or has undergone rapid genome rearrangements or deletions, in response to the hosts. It also, clarifies the unique features of rice pathogenic Burkholderia species relative to other animal and human Burkholderia species.

Grapevine red blotch-associated virus (GRBaV) is a recently identified virus that is proposed to be a member of the family Geminiviridae. The virus is associated with red blotch disease of grapevines (Vitis vinifera) (Al Rwahnih et al. 2013). A survey of the prevalence of GRBaV on grapevines showed that the virus is widespread across the United States (Krenz et al. 2014). Some grapevine viruses, including Blueberry leaf mottle virus, Grapevine fleck virus, Grapevine leafroll-associated viruses 1 (GLRaV-1) and GLRaV-3, and Grapevine pinot gris virus, have been identified in Korea (Kwak et al. 2016), but GRBaV has not yet been reported. In July 2014, 25 grapevine samples exhibiting foliar symptoms of mottling, yellowing, reddening, and malformation, and five grapevine samples having no visible symptoms were collected in Suwon and Gyeongsan, Korea, respectively. For high-throughput RNA sequencing-based detection of viruses, all samples were mixed into one pool from which total RNA was extracted with TRI Reag...