XylePhage |
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XylePhage is a novel biologic which is designed to kill the bacterias Xylella and Xanthomonas which cause a variety of plant diseases, such as olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS), Pierce's disease (grape), bacterial leaf scorch, and others
Xylella fastidiosa (X. fastidiosa) is a xylem-limited bacterium that can attack olive, grape, almond, plum and laurel trees among 309 plant species. X. fastidiosa causes several diseases of economic importance: grapevine Pierce's disease (PD); citrus variegated chlorosis; peach phony disease; plum leaf scald; as well as leaf scorch diseases on oleander, almond, coffee, pecan, amenity tree species, and olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS) that was recently identified. X fastidiosa has decimated much of the olive trees in Puglia region of Italy since first appearing in 2015. It has now spread to Corsica, France and the Balearic Islands, Spain.
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X. fastidiosa multiplies and spreads slowly up and down the xylem of the tree from the site of infection. It quickly chokes off the xylem, causing a rapid desiccation of the infected trees. No cure is known.
This organism was first identified in 1993 as the causal agent of citrus variegated chlorosis, a disease that affects varieties of sweet oranges. This disease was first noticed in Brazil in 1987, and it greatly affects commercial orchards resulting in crop devastation worldwide. Other strains of this species cause a range of diseases in mulberry, pear, almond, elm, sycamore, oak, maple, pecan and coffee, which collectively result in multimillion dollar devastation of economically important plants. The bacteria are transmitted from the gut of the insect vector (sharpshooter leafhopper) to the plant xylem when the insect feeds. Populations of X. fastidiosa restrict water movement in the xylem, but the true biochemical and biophysical mechanisms involved in symptom manifestation remain unknown. |