Multiplication and movement of Xylella fastidiosa in Australian native plant species

Xylella fastidiosa Wells is a xylem-limited plant pathogenic bacterium that
causes diseases in numerous host species including food and fodder crops,
ornamentals and weeds. The pathogen is vectored by insects, predominantly
Homalodisca vitripennis Germar (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Xylella
fastidiosa, not yet detected in Australia, is native to the Americas and is
considered to be highly invasive. Australian climatic conditions are favourable
for pathogen establishment and there is a need to develop the capacity for
rapid detection and containment of an incursion, including knowledge of host
plant species to target monitoring. In Riverside, California, twelve Australian
native plant species were inoculated with X. fastidiosa and assayed for the
pathogen after ten months using culturing and PCR to determine host status,
symptom development, systemic spread and persistence of the pathogen over
winter. The host status of several Australian native plant species will be
presented and these host species may act as reservoirs from which further
spread of the pathogen can take place should it reach Australia. The
implications of these findings will be discussed and placed in an Australian
invasion context.