Gene expression profile of pathogenicity factors in Xylella fastidiosa

• Author(s): Cooksey, Donald; Dumenyo, C.; Hernandez, Rufina;
• Abstract: Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) strains cause several economically important plant diseases including, Pierces disease on grape (PD), citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC), and oleander leaf scorch (OLS). Although the whole genomic sequence of the CVC strain has been published, no functional characterization of Xf genes has been performed. To identify genes involved in pathogenicity in the PD strain, the sequence of the CVC strain was used to select open reading frames specifying putative pathogenicity and virulence factors. DNA fragments of these genes were obtained by PCR amplification from the genome of the PD strain. Currently we are constructing arrays of these genes to perform analyses of gene expression between PD and OLS strains, pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains, and host responses in grape and oleander. This study will help in the determination of the genes whose expression changes following infection and to understand bacterial adaptation to varied environmental conditions thus providing an insight into the disease process.
• Publication Date: Jun 2002
• Journal: Phytopathology