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Module 1 - Home Page
Meet the model pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae

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Pseudomonas syringae Fact Sheet:


Pseudomonas syringae is a BACTERIAL PLANT PATHOGEN. This means that it is a bacterium that causes disease in plants. (Yes, plants get sick too!)
Bacteria in the species P. syringae are divided into PATHOVARS depending on the plant they infect
Pathovar Plant infected Disease Name
P. syringae pv. tomato tomato bacterial speck
P. syringae pv. tabaci tobacco tobacco wildfire
P. syringae pv. phaseolicola bean (Latin name = Phaseolis) halo blight

Some of the diseases caused by P. syringae pathovars are shown below and can result in significant crop loss. The bacteria are spread from plant to plant by splashing water and enter leaves through leaf STOMATES

halo blight
speck
Halo blight of bean caused by
P. syringae phaseolicola

Bacterial speck of tomato caused
by P. syringae tomato

Scientists participating in the Pseuomonas-Plant Interaction (PPI) Project study the P. syringae proteins that cause the disease These are called VIRULENCE PROTEINS. Scientists also study how the virulence proteins get out of the bacterium and into the plant.

In this module you'll:

Launch a P. syringae attack on chrysanthemum. Will the plant successfully defend itself or will it get sick?
Learn about Bubonic Plague, a bacterial disease that changed history
Find out what a model system is and how P. syringae is a good model for understanding disease-causing bacteria like Yersinia pestis, the cause of Bubonic Plague
Learn more about the Pseudomonas-Plant Interaction project