Transfer of Xanthomonas campestris pv. arecae, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum to Xanthomonas vasicola (Vauterin) as Xanthomonas vasicola pv. arecae comb. nov., and Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum comb. nov. and description of Xanthomonas vasicola pv. vasculorum pv. nov.

Recent DNA sequence and other data indicated that several important bacterial pathogens should be transferred into the species Xanthomonas vasicola Vauterin 1995. The first objective of this letter is to propose the transfer of X. campestris pv. musacearum (Yirgou and Bradbury 1968) Dye 1978 to X. vasicola Vauterin 1995. The second objective is to give a clear overview of the different evolutionary lineages that constitute the species X. vasicola, in the light of recent genomics analyses. These analyses also indicate that strains described as [X. campestris pv. zeae] (Qhobela, Claflin, and Nowell 1990; Coutinho and Wallis 1991) fall within the species X. vasicola Vauterin 1995. Furthermore, the sequence of its gyrB gene suggested that X. campestris pv. arecae (Rao and Mohan 1970) Dye 1978 is closely related to the type strain of X. vasicola. Note that in this manuscript pathovar names that have no valid standing in nomenclature are presented with square brackets as is standard.