The characteristics are as described for the genus (Vauterin et al., 1995) extended with data from this study. Using the Biolog GEN III MicroPlate system α-d-glucose, α-keto-glutaric acid (weakly), pH 6, 1% NaCl are oxidized, but the following substrates are not: d-maltose, d-turanose, stachyose, d-raffinose, α-d-lactose, d-melibiose, β-methyl-d-glucoside, d-salicin, N-acetyl-β-d-mannosamine, N-acetyl-β-d-galactosamine, N-acetyl-neuraminic acid, l-rhamnose, inosine, d-sorbitol, d-mannitol, d-arabitol, myo-inositol, glycerol, d-fructose-6-PO4, d-serine, gelatin, l-arginine, l-aspartic acid, l-histidine, l-pyroglutamic acid, l-serine, d-galacturonic acid, l-galactonic acid lactone, d-gluconic acid, d-glucuronic acid, quinic acid, d-saccharic acid, p-hydroxy-phenylacetic acid, methyl pyruvate, d-lactic acid methyl ester, d-malic acid, γ-amino-butyric acid, α-hydroxy-butyric acid, β-hydroxy-d,l-butyric acid, propionic acid, fomnic acid, pH 5, 4% NaCl, 8% NaCl, fusidic acid, d-serine, troleandomycin, rifamycin SV, minocycline, guanidine HCl, niaproof 4, vancomycin, lithium chloride, potassium tellurite, sodium butyrate, sodium bromate. The oxidization of the following substrates is strain-dependent: N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (65% of the strains), d-glucose-6-PO4 (30% of the strains), l-lactic acid (30% of the strains), nalidixic acid (65% of the strains) and aztreonam (30% of the strains). The fatty acids C15:0 iso, summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω7c / C15:0 iso 2-OH) and C17:0 iso are present in significant amounts in cells grown on TSA (BBL 11768) for 24 h under aerobic conditions. Xanthomonas axonopodis can be differentiated from the phylogenetic close Xanthomonas species by MLSA (Ah-You et al., 2009; this study).

The type strain is LMG 982T = NCPPB 457T.