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Etiology

Erwinia chrysanthemi: A Comparative Study of Phenotypic Properties of Strains from Several Hosts and Other Erwinia Species. Robert S. Dickey, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; Phytopathology 69:324-329. Accepted for publication 17 October 1978. Copyright 1979 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-69-324.

In a comparative study of the phenotypic properties of 421 strains of Erwinia species, all strains of E. chrysanthemi were separated from the other Erwinia spp. primarily by three physiological characters: production of gas from d-glucose, phosphatase production, and inability to produce acid from d-trehalose. The 322 strains of E. chrysanthemi were separated into five infrasubspecific subdivisions based on 12 physiological properties. All strains originally isolated from a specific host plant, regardless of geographic location, generally belonged to the same phenotypic subdivision. Strains included in subdivisions I and II had been isolated from specific or closely related hosts, whereas, the other subdivisions (III, IV, V) each included strains from diverse hosts.