The taxonomic value of bacterial symbiont identification in African Psychotria (Rubiaceae)

Bacteria have been reported to inhabit the leaf galls of some paleotropical genera of Rubiaceae. Cultivation of these bacteria has not been succesful to date. The use of contemporary macromolecular methods permitted the identification of these bacterial symbionts. The rather low similarity levels towards Burkholderia glathei (Proteobacteria f3), the closest validly named neighbour, indicated that these symbiotic bacteria represent novel taxa within the genus Burkholderia. This paper reports on phylogenetic analysis of the bacterial 16S rDNA as a tool for classification of bacterio- philous plants.