A bacterial pathogen of Rhodella reticulata

A bacterium was isolated which caused disease in a laboratory culture of the red alga, Rhodella reticulata. The organism was an aerobic Gram-negative rod, aflagellate andpigmented. The absorption maximum of the pigments in methanol was 460 nm. The bacteriumshowed hydrolytic activity towards agar and produced extracellular agarase. The organismutilized monosaccharide constituents of the polysaccharide of R. reticulata , as well asthe whole polysaccharide of alga, as a sole carbon source. The bacterium was identified as Cytophaga sp. LR₂.