Pseudomonas mesophilica, a New Species of Pink Bacteria Isolated from Leaf Surfaces

Eleven strains of pink-pigmented bacteria, isolated from the leaf surface of Loliumperenne (perennial rye grass), were compared with six marker strains and 50 pink-pigmented isolates from a variety of habitats. The organisms were examined for 146 unit characters, and the data were analyzed by the simple matching and Jaccard coefficients and the average-linkage algorithm. The Lolium strains formed a single, well-defined cluster. These isolates were gram-negative, oxidative rods which were motile by means of one to three polar flagella; the guanine-plus-cytosine content of the deoxyribonucleic acid of a representative strain was 65.8 f 0.5 mol%. The organisms were classified in the genus Pseudomonas but could not be assigned to any previously defined species. A new species, Pseudomonas mesophilica, is proposed for these organisms; the type strain is A47 (= ATCC 29983 = ICPB 4095).