Zebra chip is a disease of potatoes that has no cure, but scientists are on the case. They know the bacterium that causes the disease and the insect that carries it. But now, researchers have discovered something they did not know – three new genetic variants (known as haplotypes) of the bacterium and four new insect carriers.
The bacterium is known as Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (Lso). Scientists knew of two Lso haplotypes but have now found in potato crops three more of these genetic variants, each with different virulence. They found these haplotypes in the Klamath Basin, OR. The scientists are uncertain whether these new Lso variants are vectored (transmitted) by the same insect, the potato psyllid, which transmits the original two haplotypes, but they did discover that there are four other psyllid species in the area that can harbor Lso.
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