Seventeen complete genome assemblies to augment sequencing coverage of bacterial plant pathogens in the UK Plant Health Risk Register

The UK Plant Health Risk Register (PHRR) lists bacterial pathogens of regulatory concern, but genome sequences – particularly for type and pathotype strains – are lacking for several taxa. We surveyed 59 bacterial taxa listed in the PHRR and identified key gaps in publicly available genome data for those taxa. To address these, we sequenced 17 bacterial strains from the National Collection of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (NCPPB), using Illumina and Oxford Nanopore technologies to assemble complete, chromosome-level sequences. Newly sequenced genomes include type strains Agrobacterium arsenijevicii NCPPB 4602, Pectobacterium aroidearum NCPPB 929 and Xanthomonas hydrangeae NCPPB 4692 in addition to pathotype strains Xanthomonas arboricola pv. corylina NCPPB 935, X. arboricola pv. pruni NCPPB 416, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. poinsettiicola NCPPB 581 and Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. fici NCPPB 2372. Also included were non-type strains: Ralstonia syzygii subsp. celebesensis (NCPPB 3725, 3727 and 3728), three strains received as X. axonopodis pv. poinsettiicola (NCPPB 1939 and 3948) and five strains of X. euvesicatoria pv. fici (NCPPB 3886, 3887, 3797, 3795 and 3796). These bacterial genome sequences have relevance for global microbiology and plant pathology communities beyond the UK. All data have been deposited in public repositories. These genomes will help support taxonomy, molecular assay development and plant health surveillance. Data are publicly available under BioProject accessions PRJNA1126170, PRJNA1127186, PRJNA1127218, PRJNA1129842, PRJNA1129913 and PRJNA1130007.