First report of Bacillus altitudinis causing seed rot of pomegranate in China

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an economically important fruit of the Punicaceae family and widely cultivated in the world. In 2019 and 2020, pomegranate fruits showing rot symptoms initiating from seed were observed in different pomegranate-cultivated fields in Henan province of China. Bacteria as a potential pathogen were isolated from the rot tissue of pomegranate seeds, and its pathogenicity was confirmed. The bacterium was identified as Bacillus altitudinis based on morphology and sequence analysis on the 16S ribosomal DNA and the gyrB gene. This is the first report on Bacillus altitudinis causing seed rot of pomegranate.