The needs for interdisciplinary research in an intractable plant pathosystem

Outbreaks of the X-disease, caused by ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’ have repeatedly inflicted severe economic losses on the stone fruit industry in North America for the last century, most recently in the Pacific Northwest. But these outbreaks have been cyclical and in different geographic locations, with long periods of little-to-no research on the epidemiological significance of, and interaction between, the pathogen, vector(s), and host(s). In developing a response plan to this outbreak, I leaned heavily on my experiences with the BVBD course, taking inspiration from integrated ‘one health’ approaches in different human, animal, and plant pathosystems. Our team has made significant strides on understanding the complex interplay between the pathogen, vector, and hosts in the orchard and extra-orchard environment. This has led to improved, epidemiologically based approaches to managing this disease.