Occurrence of Pseudomonas savastanoi the Causal Agent of Winter Jasmine Gall in Iran

During the years 2007 and 2008, samples of winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) with symptoms of galls on shoots were collected from Shiraz, Fars province, Iran. Gram and oxidase negative, aerobic bacterium that produced fluorescent pigment on Kingۥs B medium was isolated from galls of infected trees. All isolates produced a hypersensitive reaction in tobacco. They were negative in arginine dihydrolase, gelatin hydrolysis, and potato rot slices. The strains were catalase positive, produced H2S from cysteine and were able to grow at 37ْ C. Isolates were variable in levan production. All of the isolates were identified as Pseudomonas savastanoi based on morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics, pathogenicity and with specific primer pairs iaaLf and iaaLr. In addition, the bacterium was detected directly by PCR in the gall from naturally infected winter jasmine plants.