The draft genome sequence of Xylella fastidiosa pear leaf scorch strain PLS229, isolated from the pear cultivar Hengshan (Pyrus pyrifolia) in Taiwan, is reported here. The bacterium has a genome size of 2,733,013 bp, with a G+C content of 53.1%. The PLS229 genome was annotated and has 3,259 open reading frames and 50 RNA genes.

Xylella fastidiosa causes bacterial leaf scorch in landscape trees, including mulberry. We determined the draft genome of the mulberry strain Mul-MD in order to gain a better understanding of the molecular basis of strain divergence, host specificity, nutrient requirements, and pathogenicity, as well as to develop genome-based specific detection methods.

Suppression subtractive hybridization was used to rapidly identify 18 gene differences between a citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC) strain and a Pierce's disease of grape (PD) strain of Xylella fastidiosa. The results were validated as being highly representative of actual differences by comparison of the completely sequenced genome of a CVC strain with that of a PD strain.

Some of us joined this Academy when Carlos Chagas was president. Upon meeting him for the first time, we knew that we were in the presence of a person of great vision, enormous integrity, and unquestioned dedication to science. His dedication to science had two foundations. One was his inherent fascination with the natural world. The second was his conviction that science could advance human we...

Susceptible Vitis vinifera responds to Xylella infection with a massive re-direction of gene transcription involving >800 genes with strong statistical support. This number is increased from previous estimates based on use of a more sensitive and robust statistical method known as linear models for microarray data (LIMMA). The transcriptional response to Xylella infection is characterized by in...