Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first Xanthomonas genome sequences – how genomics revolutionized taxonomy, provided insight into the emergence of pathogenic bacteria, enabled new fundamental discoveries and helped developing novel control measures – a perspective from the French network on Xanthomonads

Ralf Koebnik (1) , Sophie Cesbron (2) , Nicolas W. G. Chen (2) , Marion Fischer-Le Saux (2, 3) , Mathilde Hutin (1) , Marie-Agnès Jacques (2) , Laurent D. Noël (4) , Alvaro Luis Perez Quintero (1) , Perrine Portier (2) , Olivier Pruvost (5, 6) , Adrien Rieux (5, 6) , Boris Szurek (1)

1 UMR PHIM - Plant Health Institute of Montpellier
2 IRHS - Institut de Recherche en Horticulture et Semences
3 IRHS-EMERSYS - IRHS - Équipe EmerSys (Emergence, Systématique et Ecologie des Bactéries associées aux Plantes)
4 LIPM - Laboratoire des interactions plantes micro-organismes
5 UMR PVBMT - Peuplements végétaux et bioagresseurs en milieu tropical
6 Cirad-BIOS - Département Systèmes Biologiques

In this Opinion paper, members of the French Network on Xanthomonads give their personal view on what they consider to be some of the groundbreaking discoveries in the field of molecular plant pathology over the past 20 years. By celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first Xanthomonas genome sequences, they explain how genomics revolutionized taxonomy, provided insight into the emergence of pathogenic bacteria, enabled new fundamental discoveries and contributed to the development of novel control measures. Collectively, such new, genomics-enabled perspective will help to ensure sustainable agriculture and conservation of our environment in the future.

Mots clés: Genomics; Xanthomonas; Xylella fastidiosa; Taxonomy; Phylogeny; Epidemiology; Emergence; Host specificity; Tissue specificity; Protein secretion; Effector protein; TAL effector; Plant resistance; Disease control; Phage therapy; Nanoparticle; Genomics

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Biologie végétale

Ralf Koebnik, Sophie Cesbron, Nicolas W. G. Chen, Marion Fischer-Le Saux, Mathilde Hutin, et al.. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first Xanthomonas genome sequences – how genomics revolutionized taxonomy, provided insight into the emergence of pathogenic bacteria, enabled new fundamental discoveries and helped developing novel control measures – a perspective from the French network on Xanthomonads. Peer Community Journal, 2024, 4, pp.e19. ⟨10.24072/pcjournal.385⟩. ⟨ird-04483657⟩