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About P. syringae pv tomato DC3000


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infected tomato fruit infected leaf infected Arabidopsis infection process
Infection of tomato fruit, tomato leaves and Arabidopsis with P. syringae pv. tomato (photos by Tom Zitter and R. Thilmony)


Additional information about the symptoms, disease cycle and control of P. syringae pv tomato can be found at the following sites:

CU Vegetable MD Online - Bacterial Disease of Tomato
UC Pest Management Guidelines - Tomato Bacterial Speck
KSU Research and Extension - Bacterial Speck
UF Cooperative Extension - Bacterial Speck of Tomato
NDSU Extension Service - Bacterial Spot and Bacterial Speck of Tomato

Strains of P. syringae are noted for their diverse and host-specific interactions with plants (4,6). Specific strains are assigned to one of the over 40 known pathovars, based on their ability infect different plant species. They are then further assigned to a race based on differential interactions among cultivars of the host.


P. syringae
pv. tomato strain DC3000
  • cause of bacterial speck on tomato and Arabidopsis (7)
  • assigned to race 0, on the basis of its avirulence on tomato cultivars carrying Pto resistance (5)
  • spontaneous rifampicin resistant mutant of wild-type strain DC52, isolated for this work (2)
  • closely related to P. syringae pathovars maculicola and antirrhini (3)


Literature cited:

1. Alfano, J. R., and A. Collmer. 1996. Bacterial pathogens in plants: Life up against the wall. Plant Cell 8:1683-1698.

2. Cuppels, D. A. 1986. Generation and characterization of Tn5 insertion mutations in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 51:323-327.

3. Hendson, M., D. C. Hildebrand, and M. N. Schroth. 1992. Relatedness of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola and Pseudomonas syringae pv. antirrhini. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 73:455-464.

4. Hirano, S. S., and C. D. Upper. 2000. Bacteria in the leaf ecosystem with emphasis on Pseudomonas syringae-a pathogen, ice nucleus, and epiphyte. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 64:624-653.

5. Ronald, P. C., J. M. Salmeron, F. M. Carland, and B. J. Staskawicz. 1992. The cloned avirulence gene avrPto induces disease resistance in tomato cultivars containing the Pto resistance gene. J. Bacteriol. 174:1604-1611.

6. Rudolph, K., T. J. Burr, J. W. Mansfield, D. Stead, A. Vivian, and J. von Kietzell. 1997. Pseudomonas syringae Pathovars and Related Pathogens. Kluwer, Dordrecht.

7. Whalen, M. C., R. W. Innes, A. F. Bent, and B. J. Staskawicz. 1991. Identification of Pseudomonas syringae pathogens of Arabidopsis and a bacterial locus determining avirulence on both Arabidopsis and soybean. Plant Cell 3:49-59.