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Title: HOST RANGE PLANT SYMPTOMS AND POPULATION STRUCTURE OF XYLELLA FASTIDIOSIA

Author
item Hartung, John
item LI, WENBIN - 1275-11-00
item MONTEIRO, PATRICIA - FUNDECITRUS ARARAQUARA,BR
item TELXIRA, DIVA - FUNDECITRUS ARARAQUARA,BR

Submitted to: Plant Pathology International Congress
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/15/2002
Publication Date: 2/15/2002
Citation: Hartung, J.S., Li, W., Monteiro, P.B., Telxira, D.C. Host range plant symptoms and population structure of xylella fastidiosia. Plant Pathology International Congress.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Xylella fastidiosa causes diseases of numerous tree fruit crops as well as shade trees and grapevine in North America, and coffee and citrus in South America. The grapevine strain (Pierce¿s Disease) has also long been known to be endemic in the flora of North America, in more than 100 species of native plants, generally without inducing disease symptoms. Genomic characterizations using repetitive element- and RAPD-PCR based methods demonstrate that the population structure of the pathogen is composed of multiple clones, associated with the diseased host from which first isolated. These evidently represent selections from native populations adapted to a particular horticultural host, and it is tempting to create infra-specific designations based on such groups. The most distantly related subgroups within Xylella fastidiosa, based on such genomic analyses, are the subgroup that cause Pierce¿s disease of grapevine in the US and the subgroup that causes citrus variegated chlorosis in South America. In addition to the genetic distance, the symptoms produced in grapevine and citrus infected with Xylella fastidiosa are quite different, and we expected that the strains would not be cross-infective. However the citrus and coffee strains induced symptoms of Pierce¿s disease when inoculated into Vitis vinifera. Indeed the coffee and citrus strains can also induce disease syndromes in periwinkle and tobacco. The experimental host range of these strains, as well as the symptoms induced in diverse hosts, are flexible and will complicate efforts aimed at developing an improved taxonomic and regulatory framework for Xylella fastidiosa.