Nakato, Gloria ValentineWicker, EmmanuelCoutinho, Teresa A.Mahuku, GeorgeStudholme, David J.2019-09-302019-09-302018-12Gloria Valentine Nakato, Emmanuel Wicker, Teresa A. Coutinho, George Mahuku, David J. Studholme. A highly specific tool for identification of Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum based on five Xvm-specific coding sequences. Heliyon 4 (2018) e01080. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e01080.2405-844010.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e01080http://hdl.handle.net/2263/71500Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm) is a bacterial pathogen responsible for the economically important Xanthomonas wilt disease on banana and enset crops in Sub-Saharan Africa. Given that the symptoms are similar to those of other diseases, molecular diagnosis is essential to unambiguously identify this pathogen and distinguish it from closely related strains not pathogenic on these hosts. Currently, Xvm identification is based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with GspDm primers, targeting the gene encoding general secretory protein D. Experimental results and examination of genomic sequences revealed poor specificity of the GspDm PCR. Here, we present and validate five new Xvmspecific primers amplifying only Xvm strains.en© 2018 The Author. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.BioinformaticsMicrobiologyMolecular biologyPlant biologyXanthomonas wilt diseaseBanana cropsEnset cropsBacterial pathogenPolymerase chain reaction (PCR)Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm)Article