A biological mimic hairy root platform for rapid culture, propagation & functional studies of fastidious vascular colonizing plant pathogens
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abstract
The cumulative crop losses caused by fastidious plant pathogens such as Candidatus spp., Xylella spp., phytoplasmas and spiroplasmas runs into billions of dollars annually. Laboratory studies of these and other vascular-limited pathogens are greatly challenged due to the inability to culture them in vitro.Plant hairy roots, induced byAgrobacterium rhizogenes,are widely used in functional genomics, metabolic-engineering, molecular pharming, and for studying root-rhizosphere interactions.Theyare organized and stable tissues anatomically and metabolically similar to roots, and possess intact xylem and phloem vasculature.Our proposal leverages thisbiological mimicry to establish a novel microbial hairy rootplatform to culture and study fastidious vascular-colonizing plant pathogens outside their native plant hosts.
