enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (eric) pcr based genetic diversity of xanthomonas spp. and its relation to xanthan production

background and objective : the genus xanthomonas is composed of phytopathogenic bacterial species. in addition to causing crops diseases, most of the xanthomonas species especially xanthomonas campestris produce xanthan gum via an aerobic fermentation process. xanthan gum is, an important exopolysaccharide from xanthomonas campestris, mainly used in the food, petroleum and other industries. the purpose of this study was assessment of relationship between genetic diversity and xanthan production in xanthomonas spp. materials and methods : in this study 15 strains of xanthomonas spp. which had previously been isolated from soils of vegetable farms, were discriminated from each other using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (eric) pcr and 16s rdna sequencing methods. xanthan production of strains was measured in 250 ml flask. the results of eric pcr and xanthan production was compared. results : eric-pcr patterns not only could differentiate all xanthomonas campestis from the control i.e. xanthomonas translucent but also discriminate strains of xanthomonas to three clusters with 40% similarity based on jaccard’s coefficient. this clustering of the strains was in agreement with other characteristics including xanthan production and biochemical features. discussion : the results showed that genomic fingerprinting conferred adequate genetic data for discriminating between strains of the species xanthomonas campestris. the data indicated a partial relationship between eric-pcr patterns and xanthan production by the strains. conclusion : further development of experiments may result in making good prediction about xanthan production capability of the xanthomonas strains on the basis of eric-pcr method.