VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Lack of Evidence for In Situ Fluorescent Pigment Production by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae on Bean Leaf Surfaces. Joyce E. Loper, Former graduate research assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Berkeley 94720, Present address: Research plant pathologist, Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 3420 N.W. Orchard Ave., Corvallis, OR 97330; Steven E. Lindow, Associate professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Berkeley 94720. Phytopathology 77:1449-1454. Accepted for publication 7 May 1987. Copyright 1987 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-77-1449.

The fluorescent siderophore of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (P. s. pv. syringae) is a chromophore effective in protecting the producing cells from exposure to ultraviolet light (UV) (λ = 254) in culture. P. s. pv. syringae strain B728a, which causes brown spot disease of bean, produces a fluorescent pigment and grows on the iron-deficient King’s B medium (KBM) supplemented with ethylenediaminedi(o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) (EDDA), Strain I-1, a nonfluorescent (Flu–) derivative of B728a obtained after ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis, did not grow on the KBM-EDDA medium. Strain I-1 was more sensitive than the parental strain B728a to UV irradiation in culture. LD₅₀ values, calculated for UV killing curves, were 142.4 ± 1.4 and 100.8 ± 1.8 erg/mm² for strains B728a and I-1, respectively. Growth rates, stationary epiphytic population sizes, number of brown spot lesions, and UV sensitivities of B728a and I-1 did not differ significantly on leaf surfaces of greenhouse-grown bean plants. No consistent differences were observed between four parental and four Flu– derivative strains with respect to their population sizes on bean leaf surfaces over a 7-day period on field-grown bean plants. These indirect studies provide no evidence of in situ fluorescent siderophore production by P. s. pv. syringae or of its contribution to the growth, survival, or pathogenicity of P. s. pv. syringae on bean leaf surfaces.