FAMILY II. RHIZOBIACEAE 



289 



II. Not pathogenic to plants. 



A. From soil. Grows on potato. Nitrates completely assimilated; test for nitrites may 

 be negative. 



6. Agrobacieriion radiohacter . 



B. From marine mud. Does not grow on potato. Nitrites produced from nitrates. 



7. Agrohacterium stellulatum. 



1. Agrobacteriuni tumefaciens (Smith 

 and Townsend, 1907) Conn, 1942. {Bacterium 

 tumefaciens Erw. Smith and Townsend, 

 Science, 25 (N.S.), 1907, 672; Conn, Jour. 

 Bact., 44, 1942, 359.) 



tu.me.fa'ci.ens. L. part. adj. tumefaciens 

 tumor-producing. 



Description taken from Riker, Banfield, 

 Wright, Keitt and Sagen (Jour. Agr. Res., 

 41, 1930, 507), Sagen, Riker and Baldwin 

 (Jour. Bact., £8, 1934, 571) and Hendrick- 

 son, Baldwin and Riker (Jour. Bact., 28, 

 1934, 597). 



Rods, 0.7 to 0.8 by 2.5 to 3.0 microns, oc- 

 curring singly or in pairs. Encapsulated. 

 Motile by means of 1 to 4 flagella. Gram- 

 negative. 



Agar colonies: Small, white, circular, 

 smooth, glistening, translucent, entire. 



Broth: Slightly turbid, with thin pellicle. 



Litmus milk: Slow coagulation. Litmus 

 reduced. Neutral to alkaline. 



Indole production slight. 



Slight acid from glucose, fructose, arabi- 

 nose, galactose, mannitol and salicin. 



Starch not hydroh^zed. 



Nitrites produced from nitrates to a very 

 slight e.xtent. 



Optimum temperature, between 25° and 

 28° C. 



Facultative anaerobe. 



Distinctive characters: Causes a gall 

 formation, parenchymatous in character, 

 which, because of its soft nature, is subject 

 to injury and decay. 



Agrobacteriuni tumefaciens strongly ab- 

 sorbs Congo red and aniline blue in contrast 

 to little or no absorption by A. rhizogenes. 

 A. tumefaciens makes abundant growth on 

 sodium selenite agar and calcium glj'cero- 

 phosphate medium with mannitol in con- 

 trast to no growth or a very slight trace 

 by A. rhizogenes (Hendrickson et al., loc. 

 cit.). 



Comment: A variety of this species that 



causes galls on blueberry has been de- 

 scribed by Demaree and Smith (Phyto- 

 path., .^^, 1952, 88). 



Source: Isolated from galls on plants. 



Habitat: Causes galls on Paris daisy and 

 is cross-inoculable on over 40 families. 



2. Agrobacteriuni gypsophilae (Brown, 

 1934) Starr and Weiss, 1943. {Bacterium 

 gypsophilae Brown, Jour. Agr. Res., 48, 

 1934, 1109; Starr and Weiss, Phytopath., 

 33, 1943, 316.) 



gyp.so'phi.lae. Gr. noun gypsus chalk; 

 Gr. adj. philus loving; M.L. fem.n. Gyp- 

 sophila chalk-lover, generic name; M.L. 

 gen. noun gypsophilae of Gypsophila. 



Rods, 0.2 to 0.8 by 0.4 to 1.4 microns. Mo- 

 tile by means of 1 to 4 flagella. Encapsu- 

 lated. Gram-negative. 



Gelatin: Liquefaction slow, beginning 

 after 1 month. 



Beef -infusion agar colonies: Circular, 

 Naples-yellow, smooth or rough, butyrous. 



Broth: Turbid in 24 hours. 



Milk: Coagulation and peptonization. 



Indole not produced. 



Hydrogen sulfide: A trace may be pro- 

 duced. 



Acid but no gas from glucose, sucrose, 

 maltose, mannitol and glycerol. No acid 

 from lactose. 



Starch not hydrolyzed. 



Nitrites produced from nitrates. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Distinctive characters : Differs from Xan- 

 ihomonas beticola in starch hydrolj^sis 

 and hydrogen sulfide production; further- 

 more, these two species cannot be cross- 

 inoculated. 



Source: Isolated from several galls on 

 Gypsophila. 



Habitat: Produces galls in Gypsophila 

 paniculata and related plants. 



