What Does Agriculture, Ski Slopes, and Mutants Have In Common???
Pseudomonas syringae !!!!!!
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 it 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 nucleating 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!!!)