Plants of ruscus (Ruscus sp.) showing symptoms of leaf spot were received for analysis in April 2008 from a field located in the region of Santo Antonio de Posse, state of São Paulo, Brazil. These spots were small, rounded, with 5 to 8 mm in diameter, dark brown in color, showing necrotic center and surrounded by chlorotic haloes. Slow-growing, cream-colored bacterial colonies were consistently obtained. The bacterium was Gram-negative, oxidative and not fluorescent. Artificial inoculations on healthy ruscus seedlings reproduced the symptoms observed in natural infections; the pathogen was re-isolated from the lesions. Biochemical, cultural, physiological and serological tests of the isolates identified the causal agent as Burkholderia andropogonis (former Pseudomonas andropogonis). This is the first report of this pathogen in ruscus in Brazil. Bacterial strains were deposited in the Phytobacteria Culture Collection of the Instituto Biológico (IBSBF) under numbers 2594 and 2595.
Pseudomonas andropogonis; etiology; diagnosis; ornamental plants
