Phenotypic Characterization and Deoxyribonucleic Acid Homologies of Pseudomonas solanacearum

Twenty-six strains and colony variants of Pseudomonas solanacearum belonging to four described biotypes were characterized, by using 169 phenotypic characters previously found useful in distinguishing among strains of other Pseudomonas species. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) hybridization (intra- and interspecific DNA-DNA hybridizations) was performed by using the in vitro "DNA competition" technique. P. solanacearum appears to be a moderately homogeneous species, which is, at most, only remotely related to all other species of the genus studied to date. The four biotypes are not clearly distinct from one another with respect to nutritional characters or DNA homologies. Discrepancies between acid production and growth with some carbohydrates were noted. Difficulties were encountered in certain DNA competition experiments and some problems of the methodology are discussed.