Bacterial microbiomes in “flavescence dorée” infected grapevines in Italy

When pathogens colonize a host, they are exposed to diverse complex microbial communities inhabiting the plants as endophytes therefore they compete with them for both nutrients and space. This interaction may play important roles for the success of bacterial infections and for the ability of these pathogens to be spread from plant to plant by insect vectors. “Flavescence dorée” (FD) is a threatening grapevine disease associated to phytoplasmas enclosed in 16SrV-C/D subgroups (Martini et al., 1999) that are quarantine organisms in Europe. The disease is distributed within the most important wine-producing areas of Europe and has severe effects on both vineyard productivity and landscape management and, despite the efforts toward its containment, it is actively spreading. The aim of this study was to investigate the bacterial composition of microbiomes mainly located in the vascular tissues of grapevine FD-infected plants to study possible relationships among bacterial genera that could led to further basic information about possibility of FD management