Wednesday, 17 November 2004
D0501

Symbiotic control of Pierce's disease: Disruption of pathogen transmission

Blake Bextine, blake.bextine@ucr.edu1, Carol R. Lauzon, clauzon@csuhayward.edu2, David Lampe, lampe@duq.edu3, and T.A. Miller, thomas.miller@ucr.edu1. (1) University of California, Department of Entomology, Riverside, CA, (2) California State University, Dept. of Biological Science, Hayward, CA, (3) Duquesne University, Department of Biological Sciences, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA

The grape strain of Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) causes Pierce's disease (PD) in grapevines and is transmitted by sharpshooter insects. The most efficient vector for transmission is the glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS), Homalodisca coagulata. Symbiotic control employs mutualistic bacteria to deliver anti-Xf compounds to disrupt transmission of the pathogen to new host plants. Alcaligenes xylosoxidans var. denitrificans (Axd) is a prime candidate for control of PD because it inhabits the foregut of GWSS and the xylem of plants and has access to the pathogen, Xf. Registration of Axd as a microbial pesticide requires the ecology of Axd to be determined along with any side-effects. Candidate toxins to be expressed by Axd disrupt disease transmission. Axd colonized and traveled within 6 host plants, reaching the highest titers in lemon. Axd colonized the foregut region of two alternate Xf-vectors, the blue green and smoke tree sharpshooters, and was not identified in predatory arthropods that fed on Axd-positive GWSS.


Species 1: Hemiptera Cicidelidae Homalodisca coagulata (glassy winged sharpshooter)
Keywords: Xylella

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