''Xanthomonas oryzae'' is a species of

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

. The major host of the bacterium is

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

. The species contains two

pathovar A pathovar is a bacterial strain or set of strains with the same or similar characteristics, that is differentiated at infrasubspecific level from other strains of the same species or subspecies on the basis of distinctive pathogenicity to one o ...

s, neither of which is native to Europe: ''X. o.'' pv. ''oryzae'' and ''X. o.'' pv. ''oryzicola''. ''Xanthomonas oryzae'' epidemics can cause yield losses ranging from 2-74%, and the bacteria can be carried on rice seeds, causing further disease spread. The host resistance gene, ''

Xa21 Pamela Christine Ronald (born January 29, 1961) is an American plant pathologist and geneticist. She is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis and a member of thInnovative Gen ...

'', from ''

Oryza longistaminata ''Oryza longistaminata'' is a perennial species of grass from the same genus as cultivated rice (''O. sativa''). It is native to most of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It has been introduced into the United States, where it is often regarded ...

'', is integrated into the genome of ''

Oryza sativa ''Oryza sativa'', commonly known as Asian rice or indica rice, is the plant species most commonly referred to in English as ''rice''. It is the type of farmed rice whose cultivars are most common globally, and was first domesticated in the Yan ...

'' for its broad-range resistance to rice leaf blight caused by ''X. o.'' pv. ''oryzae''.

References

External links

Xanthomonas Genomics Resource web-based database and communication forum to facilitate genomic approaches to the study of xanthomonads
Xanthomonadales Bacterial plant pathogens and diseases Rice diseases Bacteria described in 1922 {{plant-disease-stub