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<OL> <LI> Investigate the etiology of new bacterial diseases, improve methods of diagnosis, and develop methods of disease control. <LI> Investigate mechanisms of virulence in bacterial plant pathogens, especially in Xylella fastidiosa. <LI> Investigate mechanisms of biological control with beneficial bacteria and develop strategies for competitive exclusion and inhibition of pathogens from plants and insect vectors.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Bacterial diseases of plants cause economic losses to agriculture worldwide. Pierce's disease of grapevine is an example of a serious pathogen in California and will be a major subject of this research project. To design improved disease management strategies, we need fundamental information on pathogen biology and practical information on pathogen detection, spread, and control potential. The development of improved diagnostic methodology for the Pierce's disease bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, allows us to more rapidly characterize strains from new hosts of Xylella fastidiosa that we are encountering and to predict whether the strains from these new hosts pose a threat to important agronomic crop species. This can lead to vegetation management strategies to reduce the impact of this disease on grapevine or other economic crops.
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APPROACH: Improved diagnostic methods for bacterial diseases of plants will employ nucleic acid-based methods of bacterial detection, host range determination, and genetic characterization to identify molecular signatures that would predict the host range and potential threat of new bacterial strains to agricultural crops. Functional genomic approaches will be used to investigate the mechanisms of pathogen virulence to identify targets for disease control strategies and to develop nonpathogenic strains for potential use as biological control agents.