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 dextrin, N-acetyl-d-glucosamine, α-d-glucose, d-galactose, d-fructose-6-PO4, α-keto-glutaric acid, pH 6 are oxidized, but the following substrates are not: d-turanose, stachyose, α-d-lactose, β-methyl-d-glucoside, N-acetyl-β-d-galactosamine, N-acetyl-neuraminic acid, d-fucose, l-rhamnose, d-mannitol, d-serine, p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, d-malic acid, γ-amino-butyric acid, β-hydroxy-d,l-butyric acid, fomnic acid, 4% NaCl, 8% NaCl, fusidic acid, d-serine, troleando-mycin, guanidine HCl, lithium chloride. The oxidization of the following substrates is strain-dependent: d-maltose (20% of the strains), d-melibiose (40% of the strains), glycerol (80% of the strains), d-glucose-6-PO4 (40% of the strains), gelatin (80% of the strains), d-saccharic acid (40% of the strains), l-lactic acid (40% of the strains), rifamicin SV (80% of the strains), nalidixic acid (20% of the strains) and aztreonam (40% of the strains). The fatty acids C15:0 iso and summed feature 3 (C16:1 ω7c/C15:0 iso 2-OH) are present in significant amounts in cells grown on TSA (BBL 11768) for 24 h under aerobic conditions. Xanthomonas citri can be differentiated from the phylogenetic close Xanthomonas species by MLSA (Ah-You et al., 2009; this study).

The type strain is LMG 9322T = ICPB 10518T.