ABIS Encyclopedia

Pectobacterium carotovorum

Taxonomy

Morphology

Cultural characteristics

Biochemical characters

Ecology

Pathogenicity

References

Phylum Pseudomonadota (Proteobacteria), Class Gammaproteobacteria, Order Enterobacterales, Family Pectobacteriaceae, Genus
Pectobacterium, Pectobacterium carotovorum (Jones 1901) Waldee 1945 - type species of the genus.

Old synonyms: Bacillus carotovorus Jones 1901, Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora
(Jones 1901) Bergey et al. 1923.

Gram-negative rods, motile by peritrichous flagella, 0.5-1.0 x 1-3 µm, occuring singly
or in pairs.

Colonies are white, circular with entire margins, convex, and 1.0-2.0 mm in diameter.
Facultatively anaerobic. Optimum growth temperature 26-30 ºC. No growth over 40 ºC.

Isolated from carrots, onion, broccoli, cabbage, potato (Solanum tuberosum), eggplant (Solanum melongena), tomato (Lycopersicon
esculentum), and lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata).

P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum causes soft rot in carrots, onion, broccoli, cabbage, also causes soft rot and black heart in potato
and eggplant, hollow stem in tomato, stump rot in head lettuce.

J. G. Holt et al., 1994. Facultatively Anaerobic Gram-Negative Rods. Subgroup 1. Family Enterobacteriaceae. In: Begey’s Manual of
Determinative Bacteriology, 9th-edition, Williams & Wilkins, pp 175-189.
Don J. Brenner and J.J. Farmer III, 2001. Family I. Enterobacteriaceae. In: Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Second
edition, Vol two, part B, George M. Garrity (Editor-in-Chief), pp 587-897.
Adeolu M, Alnajar S, Naushad S, S Gupta R. Genome-based phylogeny and taxonomy of the 'Enterobacteriales': proposal for
Enterobacterales ord. nov. divided into the families Enterobacteriaceae, Erwiniaceae fam. nov., Pectobacteriaceae fam. nov.,
Yersiniaceae fam. nov., Hafniaceae fam. nov., Morganellaceae fam. nov., and Budviciaceae fam. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol
2016; 66:5575-5599.
Koh YJ, Kim GH, Lee YS, Sohn SH, Koh HS et al. Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. actinidiae subsp. nov., a new bacterial
pathogen causing canker-like symptoms in yellow kiwifruit, Actinidia chinensis. New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural
Science 2012;40:269–279.

Positive results for catalase, nitrates reduction, esculin hydrolysis, acetate utilization, mucate utilization, methyl red test, acid
production from: amygdalin, L-arabinose, cellobiose, esculin, glucose, glycerol, lactose, mannose, mannitol, melibiose, palationose,
L-rhamnose, raffinose, D-ribose, sorbitol, sucrose, salicin, trehalose, and D-xylose.

Negative results for arginine dihydrolase, casein hydrolysis, beta-glucuronidase, H2S production, indole production, lecithinase,
lysine decarboxylase, malonate utilization, ornithine decarboxylase, oxidase, phosphatase, tartrate, urea hydrolysis and acid
production from adonitol, dulcitol, erythritol, D- and L-fucose, glycogen, L-sorbose, starch, D-tagatose, xylitol, L-xylose and
beta-methyl-xyloside.