Author
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Hartung, John |
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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 2/18/2000 Publication Date: 6/1/2000 Citation: Hartung, J.S. Molecular analysis of plant pathogenic bacteria. Meeting Abstract. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Molecular tools have been applied to many plant pathogenic bacteria to answer a series of related questions. These include: Can genomic differences between strains of the same species causing disease on the same or different hosts be summarized quantitatively? Are such data taxonomically useful? Can genomic differences be identified which can then be used to develop improved diagnostic procedures? Can methods from molecular biology be used to identify key components of the processes that pathogenic bacteria use to induce disease? Can these processes, when identified, be exploited to develop inexpensive and effective disease control measures? These questions have been used to guide research on the pathogens that cause citrus canker disease, citrus variegated chlorosis disease, and angular leafspot disease of strawberry. Early genomic characterizations of Xanthomonas campestris pv. citri revealed a great deal of genetic variation which was well correlated with phenotypic data. This has led to a taxonomic proposal to create three pathovars from this taxon, and has been crucial to current and past citrus canker eradication programs in Florida. Similar analyses are beginning to clarify the population structure of Xylella fastidiosa, from many hosts, and these results will be discussed. In the case of Xanthomonas fragariae, four distinct genotypes can be easily identified in a collection of strains from around the world, yet these are not correlated with disease expression. The data will be compared with similar data on Xylella fastidiosa from citrus. Lastly the future role in research of genomic sequence data, for both X. fastidiosa and X. axonopodis pv. citri will be discussed. |