The 7th XANTHOMONAS GENOMICS CONFERENCE

This award is for an international meeting "The 7th Xanthomonas Genomics Conference", which will be held in Clearwater, Florida and organized by faculty at the University of Florida and Auburn University. The Conference centers on two diverse groups of plant associated and plant pathogenic bacteria (i.e., Xanthomonas and Xylella) that negatively impact the environment and impact crop production both in yield and quality of plant species important for food, fiber, and energy.

Further, the conference provides support for early career professionals and graduate students to attend and incorporates opportunities for interactions with participants who are underrepresented in STEM disciplines.

Xanthomonas and the closely related Xylella constitute the largest and arguably the most important groups of plant pathogenic bacteria. In addition to their importance in agriculture and as models for understanding plant bacterial interactions, Xanthomonas spp. are also important in the development of transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN), a genome editing tool commonly used for crop improvement.

The 7th Xanthomonas Genomics Conference (7XGC) will provide a venue for Xanthomonas/Xylella researchers and others to share recent results and ideas that deepen our understanding of the fundamental processes that mediate plant-pathogen interactions and develop improved disease control strategies. The broader impacts of the conference are the following: (1) The conference will provide a venue to share and discuss recent discoveries; (2) identify important challenges and opportunities; (3) present new technologies and approaches; (4) train next generation scientists; (5) promote international collaboration; and (6) determine key resources for continued, community-driven advances.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.