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Bacterial leaf blight (BLB), one of the most destructive diseases of rice, is prevalent in the major rice-growing regions of the world. BLB is caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and extremely affects the quantity and quality of the rice crop. We sequenced the whole genome of the Xoo isolated from Basmati rice growing region of Pakistan using long-read Oxford Nanopore Sequencing technology. About 637 MBs of data was retrieved, corresponding to 133X genome sequencing coverage. Final assembly yields a circular chromosome of 4930682 bp. The complete genome of Xoo isolate from Pakistan will enhance sequence resources for global comparison of Xoo diversity across the region.

Stem blight is a major disease of blueberry caused by Botryosphaeriaceae fungi. Chemical and cultural management options are limited, putting emphasis on breeding efforts to identify sources of resistance. The efficacy and durability of host resistance could be impacted by the species composition of the pathogen population in a region and by the isolates employed in the screenings used to identify the resistance. Samples (365) were collected from southern highbush (SHB) and rabbiteye blueberry (REB) cultivars from 28 sites in the southeastern US (AL, FL, GA, NC, and SC). Colony morphology identified 86% of the isolates as Botryosphaeriaceae. Conidia morphology and Maximum Likelihood analysis of the Internal Transcribed Spacer rDNA regions (ITS), translation elongation factor one alpha (tef1-α), and β-tubulin were used to identify isolates at genera or species level. A PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) test was used to identify isolates to genus. Neofusicoccum and Lasiodiplodia were the predominant genera. N. kwambonambiense, N. ribis, L. theobromae and L. pseudotheobromae were the most common species isolated. Phylogenies conducted with a limited number of isolates indicated non-clonal and potentially diverse populations occur on blueberry that warrant additional study. Botryosphaeria corticis, B. dothidea, and Diplodia seriata were isolated infrequently.