Phytopathogenic Bacteria: An Imminent Threat to Sustainable Food Production

The field of Plant Bacteriology/Phytobacteriology is of great importance as it is rapidly changing and advancing due to recent advances in genomics and molecular plant bacteriology, as well as the global spread of bacterial plant diseases and the emergence of new bacterial plant pathogens. So, there is a need to integrate the understanding of bacterial taxonomy, genomics and basic plant bacteriology that reflects state-of-the-art knowledge about plant-disease mechanisms. In the present book, the first eight chapters contain general information about bacteria, the classification of plant pathogenic bacteria and the molecular mechanisms of virulence and pathogenesis of phytopathogenic bacteria. The ninth chapter of the book contains a description of 62 specific bacterial diseases of plants. Some of the described diseases, such as bacterial blight of rice, wilt of solanaceous plants, soft rot of fleshy fruits and vegetables, citrus canker, citrus huanglongbing etc., are of international importance and cause huge economic losses to mankind.

This volume

• Contains the latest, updated information on plant pathogenic bacteria as of December 2025.
• Presents the classification of the bacteria and associated nomenclature based on Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, 2nd edition and the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Seventy-three genera of bacteria containing plant pathogenic species are described, and their plant pathogenic species are listed.
• Discusses practical and thoroughly tested disease management strategies that would help control the enormous losses caused by these diseases.
• Reviews the role of Type I-VI secretions and peptide- or protein-containing toxins produced by bacterial plant pathogens.
• Briefs about plants and plant products that act as carriers of human enteric bacterial pathogens, emphasizing, for example, the role of seed sprouts as a common vehicle in causing food-borne illness.