Comparison of Plant Pathogenic Pseudomonads from Fruit Trees

Abstract

Summary. The characteristics of 59 pathogenic pseudomonads isolated from stone fruit trees in south east England, 30 from cherry and 29 from plum, were compared with 41 isolates from pear trees in a wide range of biochemical, physiological and lesion tests. Many characteristics were common, but several consistent and stable differences were found between the stone fruit and pear groups, each of which exhibited a high level of homogeneity. The few atypical isolates in each group deviated from the majority in one or two respects only. Ten citrus and 3 lilac isolates were biochemically and physiologically indistinguishable from the pear isolates but had distinctive phage and bacteriocin sensitivities. The stone fruit isolates correspond to Pseudomonas morsprunorum and the pear isolates to Ps. syringae. The relationship between these two ‘species’is discussed.