Plant Disease (2021) 105 (11 - 0625)

E. Marco-Noales, S. Barbé, A. Monterde, I. Navarro-Herrero, A. Ferrer, V. Dalmau, C.M. Aure, M.L. Domingo-Calap, B.B. Landa and M. Roselló (2021)
Evidence that Xylella fastidiosa is the causal agent of almond leaf scorch disease in Alicante, mainland Spain (Iberian Peninsula)
Plant Disease 105 (11 - 0625)
Abstract: In 2017, Xylella fastidiosa, a quarantine plant-pathogenic bacterium in Europe, was detected in almond trees associated with leaf scorch symptoms in Alicante, a Mediterranean area in southeastern mainland Spain. The bacterium was detected by serological and molecular techniques, isolated in axenic culture from diseased almond trees, and identified as X. fastidiosa subsp. multiplex sequence type (ST) 6. Inoculation experiments on almond plants in greenhouse trials with a characterized strain of X. fastidiosa subsp. multiplex ST6 isolated in the outbreak area have proved that it was able to multiply and systemically colonize inoculated plants. Disease symptoms characteristic of leaf scorch like those observed in the field were observed in the inoculated almond trees after 1 year. Furthermore, the pathogen was reisolated and identified by molecular tests. With the fulfillment of Koch's postulates, we have demonstrated that X. fastidiosa is the causal agent of the almond leaf scorch disease in the Alicante outbreak.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Blanca B. Landa

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Xylella fastidiosa	Almond (Prunus dulcis)	Spain (continental)