The 2015 growing season was tough on tomato plants at the Boyce Thompson Institute, as bacterial speck disease (Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato) descended on their field.
But it was all done on purpose. Don't go crazy and start calling up donors for more money, Natural Resources Defense Council, scientists are not creating World War Z. It was done on purpose and the bacteria is completely organic - and those infected plants may help science save others from a similar, spotted fate.
Cool weather and heavy rains in early summer created the perfect environment for speck--a bacterial disease that attacks tomatoes, causing dark spots on leaves and fruits and withered flowers. The outbreak of speck turned Boyce Thompson Institute's tomato field in Freeville, New York into a withered, mottled mess.