Tracing some enzymatic activities in three virulent pathogenic erwiniae

The absence, in the biomass, of glutamic-oxalacetic and glutamic-pyruvic transaminases and the prevalance of gamma-glutamic transpeptidase were taken as basic criteria to differentiate between Erwinia carotovora var. carorovora from E. carotovora var, citrullis and E. toxica. For further identification, detection of cholesterol in the biomass confirmed the toxica species whereas the absence of glucose confirmed the citrullis variety.