Taxonomy of Corynebacterium Plant Pathogens, Including a New Pathogen of Wheat, Based on Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis of Cellular Proteins

The known extant plant pathogenic Corynebacterium species were analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of their cellular proteins. The patterns of the protein bands of 13 species and a new corynebacterial wheat pathogen showed seven distinct groups. Five of these groups consisted of only one species each, one group contained four species, and the last group contained the new wheat pathogen and the remaining four species. The pathogens that could not be distinguished by the polyacrylamide gel analysis differed in phenotypic characteristics, including pathogenic specificity. Thus, for these bacteria we propose recognition of the following taxa: Corynebacterium fascians (Tilford) Dowson, Corynebacterium ilicis (Mandel et al.), Corynebacterium tritici (ex Hutchinson) nom. rev., Corynebacterium iranicum (ex Scharif) nom. rev., Corynebacterium rathayi (Smith) Dowson, Corynebacterium flaccumfaciens subsp. flaccumfaciens (Hedges) Dowson, Corynebacterium flaccumfaciens subsp. poinsettiae (Starr and Pirone) comb, nov., Corynebacterium flaccumfaciens subsp. betae (Keyworth et al.) comb, nov., Corynebacterium flaccumfaciens subsp. oortii (Saaltink and Maas Geesteranus) comb, nov., Corynebacterium michiganense subsp. michiganense (Smith) Jensen, Corynebacterium michiganense subsp. nebraskense (Schuster et al.) comb, nov., Corynebacterium michiganense subsp. insidiosum (McCulloch) comb, nov., Corynebacterium michiganense subsp. sepedonicum (Spieckermann and Kotthoff), comb, nov., and Corynebacterium michiganense subsp. tessellarius subsp. nov., the type strain of which is strain 78181 (= ATCC 33566 = PDDCC7221).