VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Isolation and Characterization of Strains of Erwinia ananas from Honeydew Melons. J. M. Wells, U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, and Department of Plant Pathology, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903; W-S. Sheng, M. J. Ceponis, and T. A. Chen. U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, and Department of Plant Pathology, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. Phytopathology 77:511-514. Accepted for publication 26 May 1986. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1987.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-77-511.

Strains of a yellow-pigmented bacterium causing firm, brown lesions on honeydew melons were isolated from shipments from South and Central America and from California. The bacteria were gram-negative, non-acid fast, motile, facultative anaerobic rods (0.5–1.0 x 1.0–2.5 μm) that produced a yellow pigment on nutrient agar with major visible absorption peaks at 420, 446, and 467 nm, and R_r of 0.75–0.83 on silica gel plates with methanol as the solvent. Strains were positive for catalase, beta-galactosidase, gelatinase, beta-lactamase, phosphatase, H₂S, and indole production and formed acid from cellobiose, glycerol, and melibiose. Erwinia ananas (ATCC 11530 and 23822), a pathogen of pineapple fruits, was identical to the melon isolates. All were pathogenic to pineapple and melon, had identical fatty acid profiles and mole percent guanine and cytosine in the DNA, and cross-reacted serologically. Strains isolated from California melons were highly pathogenic and differed in the intensity of indole and beta-lactamase reactions and in serological properties.