RAPD fingerprinting Xylella fastidiosa Pierce's disease strains isolated from a vineyard in north Florida

Pierce's disease (PD) strains of Xylella fastidiosa were identified by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting. Two random primers including OPA-03 (agtcagccac) and OPA-11 (caatcgccgt) were found to be efficient for differentiating PD strains isolated from a vineyard in North Florida in 1996 (129 strains) and 1997 (29 strains) from non-PD strains of X,fastidiosa (citrus variegated chlorosis, mulberry leaf scorch, periwinkle wilt, plum leaf scald, and phony peach) and strains from;Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria and Escherichia coli. This study shows that RAPD fingerprinting is a useful tool to supplement the conventional symptoms-colony morphology-slow growth identification procedure routinely used to identify the PD pathogen. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.