What Does Agriculture, Ski Slopes, and Mutants Have In Common???


Pseudomonas syringae
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Pseudomonas syringae
is a Gram-negative, polar-flagellated, rod shaped bacteria. It is known as a common plant pathogen and has the interesting property of ice nucleation (meaning ithttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Ueberladewagen.jpg/180px-Ueberladewagen.jpg can cause water to freeze at temperatures as high as -1.8 °C or 29 °F). This genetically carried property has a large economic effect due to the strict dependence crops have on the effects of the weather, particularly the devastating effect frost can have on a year's harvest. Mutants of this organism are being researched as a possible beneficial organism for agricultural purposes. P. syringae, because of it's ice http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Skier-carving-a-turn.jpg/180px-Skier-carving-a-turn.jpgnucleating property, is currently used commercially to produce snow for ski and snowboarding resorts as well as being studied as a possible biological atmospheric influence on amounts of rain and snowfall. (Pretty Cool…literally!!!)