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Etiology

Use of Monoclonal Antibodies and Pathogenicity Tests to Characterize Strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. dieffenbachiae from Aroids. R. L. Lipp, Research associate, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822; A. M. Alvarez(2), A. A. Benedict(3), and J. Berestecky(4). (2)Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822; (3)(4)Professor and graduate assistant, Department of Microbiology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822. Phytopathology 82:677-682. Accepted for publication 18 February 1992. Copyright 1992 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-82-677.

Six monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were used to group 323 strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. dieffenbachiae, isolated from 12 genera of aroids and collected from five Hawaiian islands, Florida, California, and Australia over 11 yr. Nine percent of these strains did not react with any of the six MAbs. Of the remaining 91%, 12 major serogroups were identified. Ninety-five percent of the Anthurium strains formed seven groups, four of which contained exclusively Anthurium strains. Thirty-six of 43 strains from Syngonium reacted with the MAbs, including most of those strains previously considered to be “X. vitians” and recently described as a separate pathovar (pv. syngonii). However, strains of X. c. vitians from lettuce reacted only with Xanthomonas-specific MAbs and not with MAbs used to group X. c. dieffenbachiae strains. Strains isolated from Anthurium had a broader host range and were generally more virulent than strains from other aroids.