it has now been found that there is another , new , naturally - occurring , representative of the copper - resistant , nonobligate bacterial predators that can destroy even as powerful a predator as c . necator . this is because the new predator , which has been designated as strain 679 - 2 , strain atcc 55089 , produces a toxic , antimicrobial , non - peptide , inhibitor compound in addition to the cu - gif . the inhibitor compound inhibits many , but not all , bacteria and fungi . thus , a method using the cells and products of strain 679 - 2 to control fungal and bacterial diseases of plants has been developed . this method includes ways of preparing the cells for use so they will be able to live for either a short or a prolonged time after their introduction into nature . a wide variety of bacteria and fungi has been shown to be inhibited by strain 679 - 2 . in addition to its use as a biological control of fungal and bacterial plant diseases , strain 679 - 2 is a useful organism for bioremediation or sewage treatment . it exhibits strong selective competitive characteristics supportive of such applications . bacterial predator strain 679 - 2 appears to be a new species of pseudomonas . this conclusion is based on its morphological and physiological characteristics . it is a gram negative rod , about 0 . 5 - 0 . 6 × 0 . 8 - 0 . 9 μm . it is motile by a single subterminal flagellum . it is oxidase negative . it grows well aerobically , but also can grow to a limited extent anaerobically without nitrate being added . it accumulates poly - β - hydroxybutyric acid ( phb ) in its cells . it does not produce either fluorescent or non - fluorescent pigments . it is resistant to 0 . 01 % cucl 2 . 2h 2 o . its occurrence is rare in nature . to date , it has been found only in the soil at one site . it has not been found in other soils or on the leaves of various plants , although , if introduced , it can survive well in these habitats . once present in soil , strain 679 - 2 survives for prolonged periods . for example , 8 . 0 × 10 7 cells per g soil decreased to 2 . 0 × 10 7 , 9 . 0 × 10 6 , and 3 . 8 × 10 5 , respectively , after 1 , 2 , and 3 months presence in the soil . in addition , counts of 5 . 8 × 10 4 and 6 . 0 × 10 3 cells per g soil were obtained in march for bacteria applied more than 6 months previously . strain 679 - 2 growing on an agar medium usually has a well - defined colony appearance resembling a beehive . a culture with this colony appearance is called the &# 34 ; wild type .&# 34 ; a few of the wild type colonies may change in appearance after several successive transfers of the wild type are made on agar . these altered colonies are relatively flat and are designated as &# 34 ; variant &# 34 ; colonies . the variant colonies are genetically relatively stable when they are subcultured . they are less able to protect plants against disease than are the wild type cells . pseudomonas strain 679 - 2 is deposited with the american type culture collection , rockville , ma ., and is accessioned as atcc 55089 . the following examples are given solely for the purpose of illustration and are not to be construed as limitations of this invention , many variations of which are possible without departing from the spirit or scope thereof . although found occurring naturally in only one soil to date , strain 679 - 2 is highly competitive when it is added to other soils . for example , 3 cells added to 1 g of soil increased in number to 4 × 10 4 cells within 24 hours . this is 0 . 1 % of the total microflora of the soil and represents a generation time in nature of 105 minutes . when 0 . 8 mg l - glutamic acid was added along with the cells ( to increase production of the inhibitor compound and the cu - gif ), the respective values were 1 × 10 6 cells , 0 . 9 %, and 75 minutes . addition of a slightly greater number of cells to 1 g of soil , 8 . 0 × 10 3 , resulted in strain 679 - 2 becoming 22 % of the total population ( 162 minutes generation time ) or , with 0 . 8 mg glutamic acid also added , 33 % of the total population ( 105 minutes generation time ). for all of these examples , the total count per se of soil organisms did not increase . for trials such as the above , the inhibitor compound could be added in place of l - glutamic acid since the latter was used by the organism to make the inhibitor . the following method was employed for growing cells of strain 679 - 2 for application to plants . strain 679 - 2 was grown 20 hours at 28 ° c . on six slants of 0 . 1 strength heart infusion 1 . 5 % agar medium . the cells were then suspended by loop by adding 4 ml sterile distilled water to each slant . the resulting cell suspensions were combined in a sterile empty flask . one ml of this was used to inoculate each growth flask . each 500 ml erlenmeyer growth flask contained 100 of l - glutamic acid synthetic broth medium . this medium was composed of l - glutamic acid , 0 . 1 %; nh 4 no 3 , 0 . 1 %; kh 2 po 4 , 0 . 1 %; na 2 so 4 , 0 . 02 %; and nacl , 0 . 02 %; ph 7 . 2 with koh . these flasks were incubated by shaking 2 days on a reciprocal shaker at 28 ° c . at the end of this time , the cells had just reached the maximum stationary growth phase , and autolysis had not yet started . this broth culture was used , as is , for application by spraying to plants . the cell numbers in the broth culture were 1 . 1 × 10 7 per mil . an assay of a cell - free filtrate made from this culture showed no inhibition or other activity against the test organisms , micrococcus luteus and aspergillus niger . tomato plants already growing in the field were used . early blight disease ( alternaria solani ) was endemic in these fields . duplicate trials were conducted in separate fields . three well - separated plants in each field were sprayed , and three non - sprayed plants in each field were used as controls . the culture was sprayed on the plants as a mist so the leaves just became damp . about 3 . 7 × 10 9 cells in total were sprayed toward each plant , but a part of these cells went onto the ground . each plant received 3 of these sprayings , with spacings of 4 and 3 days between the sprayings . the plants and soil were evaluated 7 days after the last spraying . the incidence of alternaria solani infection was based on the overall percent of leaf surface area that became infected . for plot number one , the means incidence values and standard deviations were , respectively , for treated and control plots , 7 . 9 %, ± 7 . 7 and 37 . 0 %, ± 23 . 7 . for plot number 2 , the respective values were 8 . 8 %, ± 7 . 4 and 28 . 7 %, ± 21 . 8 . based on the paired t - test , the difference between treated and control plants was highly significant ( 1 % probability level ). the soil under the control plants did not contain any strain 679 - 2 cells , either initially or later on . at the time of the incidence of infection evaluations , the soil under the treated plants contained 3 . 2 × 10 5 679 - 2 cells per g of soil . a test of this soil 44 days later ( i . e ., well after normal tomato harvest time ) showed 1 . 6 × 10 5 679 - 2 cells per g soil . the following spring ( in march ) 6 . 0 × 10 3 cells were still present . for these determinations , the soil was diluted and plated on 0 . 1 strength heart infusion 1 . 5 % agar ( ph 6 . 5 ) containing 0 . 01 % cucl 2 . 2h 2 o . in contrast to these soil results , at the time of the evaluation of the incidence of alternaria solani infection , there were no living cells of strain 679 - 2 on the tomato leaves . the leaves were macerated in a waring blender and plated on copper agar . the lack of prolonged survival of 679 - 2 cells on the tomato leaves seemed to be due to a lack of desiccation protection . each of the plants in the trial was well separated from other plants so there was no leaf canopy to help retain moisture . in a separate trial using plants that were sprayed only once with 679 - 2 cells and that were growing quite close together and receiving daily watering through the leaves , the 679 - 2 cells survived well . initially after the spraying , the 679 - 2 cells were present at 5 . 4 × 10 4 per g of leaf tissue . this approximate number was found at sequential samplings . after 54 days , there were present 9 . 2 × 10 3 cells per g leaf . in this and all other trials , there was no sign of any leaf or plant toxicity or alteration caused by the presence of strain 679 - 2 . a field trial resembling that in example 1 was conducted , but the strain 679 - 2 cells were grown initially in a different manner . they were grown such that they would survive less well in the field . laboratory experiments had previously shown that strain 679 - 2 cells grown on full strength heart infusion agar were unaffected by incubation ( storage ) at either 4 ° or 28 ° c . for periods of from 9 to 25 days . thereafter , they suddenly lost their copper resistance . a few days later ( when the cells were about 13 to 39 days old ), the cells died . the loss of copper resistance meant that the cells could no longer control their dormancy . in the field , the loss of copper resistance played an additional role , because the cells could no longer protect themselves from attack by other predator bacteria . cells grown , as in example 1 , on a more dilute medium ( e . g ., 0 . 1 strength heart infusion broth or agar ) did not demonstrate this programmed death . six full strength heart infusion agar slants were inoculated with strain 679 - 2 cells and incubated 48 hours at 28 ° c . the cells on each slant were then suspended by loop into 4 ml sterile distilled water . all cell suspensions were combined and centrifuged . the cell pellet then was washed once by centrifugation in sterile distilled water and , finally , resuspended in 100 ml of sterile distilled water . this suspension contained 1 . 0 × 10 8 strain 679 - 2 cells per ml . each of 3 tomato plants with endemic early blight was sprayed with 33 ml of this cell suspension . this meant that a total of 3 . 3 × 10 9 cells was sprayed toward each plant , although some of the cells went onto the ground . the plants received only this one spraying . there was no plant toxicity evident during the trial , nor any other alteration in the plants attributable to strain 679 - 2 . fifteen days after application , the mean and standard deviation for percent disease incidence of treated leaves was , respectively , 27 . 7 % and ± 12 . 9 . the corresponding values for the controls were 58 % and ± 2 . 8 . the differences were highly significant ( one percent probability level ) based on the paired t - test . strain 679 - 2 cells were not found on the leaves at the time of the disease incidence evaluation , or on the fruits , or in the soil . nevertheless , they had lived long enough to protect the leaves from alternaria solani . strain 679 - 2 cells were prepared as in example 2 . an alfalfa field was used where common leaf spot , pseudopeziza medicaginis , was endemic . twelve , well - separated , one - meter - square plots were marked off in the alfalfa field . six of these were retained as untreated controls . the other six were sprayed with strain 679 - 2 broth culture . each plot received 333 ml sprayed onto the leaves , although some ended up on the soil . two additional , similar applications were made , with intervals between applications of 5 and 2 days , respectively . the evaluations of the percent incidence of disease and the survival of the 679 - 2 cells were made 12 days after the last spraying . for percent incidence of disease , the mean and standard deviation of the controls , respectively , were 5 . 5 % and ± 1 . 3 . for treated plants , the values were 3 . 4 % and ± 1 . 0 . the differences were highly significant ( 1 % probability level ) based on the paired t - test . strain 679 - 2 cells were not present initially in the soil , nor were they present on the leaves of the control plants or in their respective soils at the end of the experiment . at 12 days after the last spraying , the treated plants had 1 . 6 × 10 5 679 - 2 cells per g of leaf tissue , and the soil beneath the plants contained 1 . 0 × 10 6 cells per g . forty - five days after the last spraying , the soil still contained 4 . 2 × 10 5 679 - 2 cells per g . the foliage had been cut ( harvested ) 25 days previous to this . nevertheless , the foliage regrowth contained about 1 . 0 × 10 3 679 - 2 cells per g of tissue . approximately 6 months , which included overwintering , after the last spraying , the soil still contained 5 . 8 × 10 4 679 - 2 cells per g soil . the cells were not present , however , on the alfalfa regrowth . strain 679 - 2 wild type cells and variant cells were prepared individually as in example 2 . petri plates of damp sterile sand were prepared . three trifoliate leaflets of alfalfa were laid on the sand in each plate . phoma fungus spores ( that cause alfalfa spring leaf spot disease ) were sprayed onto the leaflets . some of the plates that were sprayed with phoma were also sprayed with the wild type cells of 679 - 2 , and other plates with the variant cells . additional phoma plates received a mixture of the two types . all plates were then incubated one week at 22 ° c . the results showed that neither the variant nor the wild type cells were toxic to the leaves . the variant cells did not protect the leaves against phoma . in fact , they interfered with the protection provided by the wild type cells when they were mixed with them . it was previously shown that the variant cells interfered with production of the inhibitor compound in broth cultures of strain 679 - 2 wild type cells . protection of the leaves by the wild type cells was highly significant ( 1 % probability level ) based on the paired t - test . the mean percent value and standard deviation for phoma alone were 24 . 2 % and ± 13 . 7 . when the wild type cells had been added with the phoma spores , the values were 10 . 0 % and ± 7 . 5 . the inhibitor compound and the cu - gif compound produced by strain 679 - 2 aid it in its attack on bacteria and fungi in nature . strain 679 - 2 cells were grown 24 hours by shaking at 28 ° c . in 100 ml of full strength heart infusion broth . the cells were then separated from the broth and washed once by centrifugation in sterile distilled water . they were then resuspended in 100 ml of l - glutamic acid synthetic broth medium in a 500 ml erlenmeyer flask as in example 2 . this flask was shaken 27 hours at 28 ° c . then frozen and thawed . the cells were removed by centrifugation , followed by passage of the supernate fluid through a 0 . 3 μm pore size membrane bacteriological filter . assay against m . luteus showed that this filtrate contained 3 . 5 units per ml activity of the inhibitor compound . a second preparation was made by loop inoculation of strain 679 - 2 cells into 50 ml of full strength heart infusion broth in a 500 ml erlenmeyer flask . this flask was shaken 64 hours at 28 ° c . it was then frozen and thawed , followed by centrifugation and filtration as above . the filtrate contained 41 units per ml activity of the inhibitor compound based on the m . luteus assay . each of these preparations also contained a small amount of the cu - gif compound . each preparation was sprayed so as to thoroughly wet the leaves of bean , tomato , and alfalfa plants in a greenhouse . there was no toxicity after 1 , 4 , or 6 days . in addition , the 3 . 5 unit per ml preparation was not toxic when it was applied as a leaf infusion into tobacco and tomato leaves . infusion of the 41 unit per ml preparation for both plants produced necrotic lesions on the leaves . these did not occur if uninoculated sterile full strength heart infusion broth ( the control ) was infused . the medium used was the l - glutamic acid synthetic broth described in example 2 . mgcl 2 . 6h 2 o at 0 . 05 % was added , however , when the medium was prepared for the preservation flasks . the media were dispensed at 40 ml per 300 ml baffle - bottom erlenmeyer flask for inoculum production , and at 50 ml per 500 ml erlenmeyer flask for production of the inhibitor compound . the growth from a 20 hour full strength heart infusion agar slant of strain 679 - 2 was suspended in 5 ml of distilled water ; 0 . 5 ml of this was then added to each inoculum flask . these were shaken on a reciprocal shaker 24 hours at 28 ° c . five ml of this was used to inoculate each production flask . these were shaken 48 hours at 28 ° c ., or until distinct autolysis had set in . the flasks were then frozen and thawed and the cells removed by centrifugation . the supernatant fluid was passed through an 0 . 3 μm pore size membrane filter . preparations made in this manner usually assayed at about 2 to 9 units per ml , based on the m . luteus assay . in addition to the inhibitor compound , a small amount of cu - gif was present . if desired , the filtrate could be concentrated by use of a rotary vacuum evaporator operating at 60 ° c . a variety of microorganisms was tested for sensitivity to the strain 679 - 2 inhibitor compound . sensitivity testing involved the use of both cell - free concentrated preparations and perpendicular streaks on 0 . 1 strength heart infusion agar . this medium contained 0 . 1 % sucrose when azotobacter or saccharomyces were the test organisms . for the cell - free concentrated preparations , the test organism was streaked by loop in various directions to cover the surface of the agar in the plate . an absorbent paper disk ( 12 . 7 mm diameter of the type commonly used for assay of antibiotics ) was then aseptically dipped in the preparation and placed on the agar surface in the center of the plate . after incubation for 1 to 3 days at 28 ° c ., the diameter of the zone of inhibited growth of the test organism was measured . for the perpendicular streaks , strain 679 - 2 was grown 24 hours as a line of growth along one edge of the plate . each test organism was then applied as a streak perpendicular to but not quite touching the strain 679 - 2 growth . further incubation of 1 to 3 days showed whether the test organisms were being inhibited by any compounds being produced by strain 679 - 2 and diffusing into the surrounding agar medium . the distance of inhibited growth was measured . results of inhibition testing involving various bacteria and fungi are presented in table 1 . note that agromyces ramosus , actinomyces humiferus , capriavidus necator [ n - 1 ], ensifer adhaerens [ a and sa ], and streptomyces # 34 are themselves bacterial predators of bacteria . thus , while we have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of our invention , it is to be understood that this invention is capable of variation and modification , and we , therefore , do not wish or intend to be limited to the precise terms set forth , but desire and intend to avail ourselves of such changes and alterations which may be made for adapting the present invention to various usages and conditions . accordingly , such changes and alterations are properly intended to be within the full range of equivalents and , therefore , within the purview of the following claims . the terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation , and thus there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of features shown and described or portions thereof , it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow . thus is described out invention and the manner and process of making and using it in such full , clear , concise , and exact terms so as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains , or to which it is most nearly connected , to make and use the same .