Competition of Octopine-Catabolizing Pseudomonas spp. and Octopine-Type Agrobacterium tumefaciens for Octopine in Chemostats.

The ability of two octopine-catabolizing Pseudomonas spp. and two virulent octopine-type Agrobacterium tumefaciens to compete for substrates has been examined in chemostats. In dual cultures with octopine or glutamate as the limiting carbon or nitrogen source, Pseudomonas fluorescens B99A and E175D always dominated over A. tumefaciens B6 or ATCC 15955. The growth dynamics of each strain in pure culture indicated that some form of antagonism was occurring in dual culture to permit the predominance of the pseudomonads under certain conditions. Although both pseudomonads fluoresce, pyoverdine was not responsible for the observed inhibition. An unidentified antibiotic secreted by both pseudomonads is believed to be responsible. A. tumefaciens B6 grew synergistically in the presence of P. fluorescens B99A with octopine as the limiting nitrogen source. This behavior of Agrobacterium strain B6 may help overcome its grossly inefficient use of octopine as previously reported. The ability of these two pseudomonads to outcompete the agrobacteria under all conditions tested raises the possibility that under field conditions, infectious agrobacteria may be succeeded by opine-catabolizing pseudomonads around crown gall tumors and in the rhizosphere.