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Bacteriophages from Sewage Specific for Fluorescent Phytopathogenic Pseudomonads. M. D. Thomas, Former graduate research assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92521, Present address: USDA-ARS, National Cotton Pathology Research Laboratory, College Station, TX 77840; J. V. Leary, associate professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92521. Phytopathology 73:403-406. Accepted for publication 8 September 1982. Copyright 1983 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-73-403.

Fifty-six bacteriophages were isolated on Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea from raw sewage obtained from four sources in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in California. Seven selected phages characterized further were specific for the fluorescent phytopathogenic pseudomonads, particularly for the P. syringae group. Not all pathovars of P. syringae were susceptible to these phages. One of these phages was specific to pv. glycinea race 4. Electron microscopic characterization of six of the seven selected phages revealed four distinct morphologies. All of the phages examined contained double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid. The phages were tested for generalized transducing ability of several different chromosomal genes. No stable recombinants were recovered regardless of the conditions used in transduction experiments.