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Pierce's Disease
Research Updates

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What is Pierce's Disease?

Pierce's Disease is a bacterial infection, which is spread by bugs that feed on grapevines, particularly the "glassy winged sharpshooter." Grapevines that become infected with PD can quickly become sick and die.

glassy-winged sharpshooter

DNA MICROARRAY AND MUTATIONAL ANALYSIS TO IDENTIFY VIRULENCE GENES IN XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA

  • Author(s): Cooksey, Donald; Yang, Ching-Hong;
  • Abstract: The identification of genetic factors that enable Xylella fastidiosa to express Pierces disease symptoms is essential to the further development of several disease control strategies. One such control strategy is to use non-pathogenic derivatives of the Pierces disease pathogen itself to competitively exclude pathogenic strains in grapevines. We have made progress in the development of genetic tools for this purpose and in identifying several putative virulence genes through comparative genome and mutational analyses. However, with over 50% of the X. fastidiosa genome consisting of genes with no known function, a more comprehensive approach is needed to identify genes that are important for virulence of the Pierces disease strain of X. fastidiosa. This new project is using a DNA microarray approach for this purpose.
  • Publication Date: Aug 2003
  • Journal: 2003 Pierce's Disease Research Symposium

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