Diptheria bacteria cause the disease only if carrying a certain virus. Clostridium botulinum produces toxins in food only when carrying a certain virus. Bacterial viruses do not attack humans or other animals, but they can cause a harmless bacterium to become a lethal pathogen. They further oxidize acetic acid to CO 2 and water. Agrobacterium species are noted for producing galls or hairy roots on plants.
Most species produce much slime on carbohydrate media.
Gelatin slowly liquified. The type of gall or hairy root is determined by the plasmids carried by a strain. Plant pathogens and can destroy sensitive cultivars of grape and raspberry. Arthobacter species produce branching filaments which, with age, break up to form small cells. In a colony, filaments are found at the edges and cells at center.