Abstract: Ralstonia solanacearum, a widely distributed and economically important plant pathogen, was characterized by ion-exchange chromatography (IEC). Ralstonia solanacearum was chromatographed on a TOYOPEARL SuperQ-650 C column (200 mm×4.6 mm i.d.) with gradient elution by A (0.02 mol/L piperazidine-chlorhydric acid buffer (pH 8.0)) and B (A+1 mol/L NaCl). The pure culture of R. solanacearum was separated into three fractions on a SuperQ-650 C column. They were found all belong to R. solanacearum after the fractions were identified by other biochemical methods. Because of their ability to oxidize 3 disaccharides (lactose, maltose and cellobiose) and 3 hexose alcohols (mannitol, sorbitol and dulcitol), they are classified as biovar Ⅲ of R. solanacearum. Once the mobility was scaled using microscope and the pathogenetic ability was measured with 2,3,4-triphenyltetrazolium chlorid (TTC) medium, the two fractions were in different states. The results are very important to elucidate the multi-states of R.solanacearum and the mechanism of R.solanacearum’s pathogenetic mutation.

Key words: biochemical characterization, multi-states , Ralstonia solanacearum, ion-exchange chromatography