Keeping up with the plant destroyers in the post-genomics era. Understanding host specificity via comparative genomics

S Kamoun, D S Guttman
2017 Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union   unpublished
s of invited talks, oral and poster presentations given at the 15th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union, June 20-23, 2017, in Córdoba, Spain The 15th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union entitled "Plant health sustaining Mediterra-nean Ecosystems", was held in Córdoba, Spain on June 20-23, 2017. The mission of the meeting was to promote dissemination of the latest scientific advances and encourage dialogue, interaction and collaboration between researchers
more » ... different disciplines interested in all aspects of Phytopathology. More than 200 participants from 26 countries attended the congress, making this an outstanding scientific event. The presentations covered a broad range of aspects related to plant diseases including Genome Analysis, Invasive Emerging Pathogens , Integrated Disease Management, Food Safety, New Tools In Diagnostics and Management, Molecular Pathogen-Host Interactions, Biocontrol, Epidemiology and Modelling, and Microbiomes and their Role in Plant Health. Abstracts of the invited talks, and the oral and poster presentations are given in this issue. Key note lectures Olive quick decline and Xylella fastidiosa in Southern Italy: the state of the art. D. BOSCIA, M. SAPONARI. The identification in 2013 of an outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) in olive groves in the Salento peninsula (southern Italy) resulted in a plant health emergency of unprecedented proportions for the EU. Infected olive trees show extensive canopy desiccation and severe quick decline symptoms. In the outbreak area, the bacterium was found to be efficiently spread by the meadow spittlebug Philaenus spumarius, abundant on the olive canopies during the dry season. The initial demarcated foci rapidly expanded over the following 4 years, establishing a new demarcation line 80 km from the first reported outbreak; while few species were found infected in 2013 the currently known susceptible hosts reached approx. 30 different plant species. Phytosanitary measures to combat the spread and mitigate the impact of the bacterial infections, included restrictions for new plantations and movement of propagating materials, and removal of infected trees. The severe damage and the imposed phytosanitary restrictions caused severe economic and social impacts in the local community, raising concerns against the containment measures and failure to implement timely, effective and coordinated preventive measures. Due to the novelty of the Xylella-associated disease in olives and the new outbreak in the EU, the EU Commission mobilized dedicated resources to build research activity to address research gaps for this emerging pathogen. Between 2015 and 2016, two projects in the H2020 framework have been funded. These are: "Pest Organisms Threatening Europe" (POnTE) and "Xylella fastidiosa Active Containment Through a multidisciplinary-Oriented Research Strategy" (XF-ACTORS), the latter exclusively targeting Xf. From the increased research activity developed in the past 3 years, new knowledge is providing data on the genetic and biological properties of the Xf population, the host range, vector identification and biology, and identification of olive cultivars with promising resistance traits.
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