NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS AND DETERMINATIVE TESTS FOR NONFLUORESCENT PLANT-PATHOGENIC PSEUDOMONAS SPP AND GENOMIC ANALYSIS AND RECLASSIFICATION OF SPECIES RELATED TO PSEUDOMONAS-AVENAE MANNS 1909

We performed a numerical analysis of the results of biochemical and nutritional tests done with strains of nonfluorescent plant-pathogenic Pseudomonas spp. A total of 57 tests were used, and determinative tests which discriminated between taxa were identified. Pseudomonas andropogonis, P. caryophylli, P. corrugata, P. glumae, P. plantarii, and P. rubrisubalbicans were distinguished as distinct members of the genus Pseudomonas. Strains of P. ficuserectae and P. meliae formed a single cluster having affinities with P. syringae. Strains of P. cissicola were allocated to Agrobacterium spp. Strains of P. avenae, P. cattleyae, P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. citrulli, P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. konjaci, and P. rubrilineans formed a single relatively homogeneous cluster, within which three subclusters were discerned. Strains presently identified as P. avenae and as P. rubrilineans, including the type strain of P. cattleyae, formed a single homogeneous subcluster. Strains of P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. citrulli and P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. konjaci formed two subclusters. Genomic probes prepared from DNAs of the type strains of P. avenae, P. cattleyae, P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. citrulli, P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. konjaci, and P. rubrilineans gave positive reactions with all of the strains of these species which were tested in colony hybridization studies, but not with strains of other nonfluorescent Pseudomonas spp. The G + C ratios of these type strains were all in the range from 67 to 71 mol%, and the levels of homology determined in DNA-DNA reassociation studies were all greater than 70%. P. avenae, P. cattleyae, P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. citrulli, P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. konjaci, and P. rubrilineans are considered to be members of a single species, P. avenae, with P. cattleyae and P. rubrilineans as junior synonyms; P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. citrulli and P. pseudoalcaligenes subsp. konjaci are proposed as subspecies.