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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Microbe that is ravaging Europe’s plants is traced to its birthplace

A bacterium that infects a wealth of crops and ornamental plants landed in Europe from California.
Almond plot affected by Almond leaf Scorch caused by X. fastidiosa subsp. multiplex, Spain.

An almond grove in Mallorca, Spain, blighted by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa subspecies multiplex. Genomic analysis suggests that the microbe originated in the United States. Credit: Dr. J. A. Navas-Cortés

Across Europe, crops and ornamental plants are being hammered by a destructive bacterial invader called Xylella fastidiosa. Now a genomic analysis shows that one of the most threatening forms of this bacterium probably invaded Europe multiple times, in most instances arriving from California.

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Nature 575, 569 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03562-9

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