Bacterial Mosaic, a New Corynebacterial Disease of Wheat. Randall R. Carlson, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583-0722. Anne K. Vidaver, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583-0722. Plant Dis. 66:76-79. Accepted for publication 4 September 1981. Copyright 1982 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-66-76.

Bacterial mosaic is a foliar disease of wheat; characteristic symptoms are small yellow lesions, more or less uniformly distributed over the leaf. It was discovered in Nebraska in the spring of 1976. By 1979, the pathogen was distributed over an 800-km range and had been isolated from 16 cultivars of winter wheat. The pathogen is Corynebacterium michiganense subsp. tessellarius, a Gram-positive coryneform. Wheat was the only host that showed symptoms after inoculation. The pathogen reached high population levels (> 10⁶ colony-forming units per gram of fresh weight) without apparent symptoms in tomato and in six of nine gramineous plants in greenhouse tests.

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