Bad Actors in the ‘Zebra Chip’ Fight are Stacking the Deck

September 17, 2024 USDA, Tellus

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.