Monitoring for genetically engineered pseudomonas species in monterey county

A field monitoring study was conducted to determine if genetically altered Pseudomonas fluorescens or P. syringae had been applied to sites in Monterey County. A series of diagnostic tests for antibiotic resistance, fluorescence ability, oxidase and arginine dihydrolase activities, hypersensitivity reaction and ice nucleation ability were conducted to screen bacteria isolated from field and control samples. No bacteria were detected from field samples which matched the expected test profiles of genetically altered bacterial products. In contrast, bacteria were consistently isolated from positive control samples with the expected characteristics of genetically altered bacteria.