Plasmid-borne determinants of colony morphology, pigmentation, antibiotic resistance and antibiosis in Pseudomonas species antagonistic to bacterial blight of cotton

Plasmids of bacteria are responsible for definite phenotypic traits. The pl asmid profile of a cotton plylloplane bacterium belonging to genus Pseudomo nas and antagonistic to the incidence of bacterial blight of cotton, Xantho monas axonopodis pv. malvacearum was studied. The plasmid restriction had r estriction sites for BamHI and EcoRI, The cured strain of the bacteria lost its original colony characters, pigmentation, antibiotic resistance and an tibiosis which were again restored when the cured bacteria was transformed by its plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The investigation confirmed tha t the above-mentioned phenotypic traits were plasmid-borne.