Xanthomonas citri pv. citri strain:03-1638-1-1 Genome sequencing

Xanthomonas citri, the causal agent of citrus canker, represents a well-studied pathosystem due to the detailed understanding of pathogen biology using a combination of approaches including mutational analysis and, more recently, by sequencing of hundreds of strains of this pathogen. Among various pathogenicity factors deployed by X. citri during disease establishment, the most important and widely studied factor includes a type III effector family of Transcriptional Activator-Like effectors (TALEs). We utilized the power of long reads obtained by PacBio sequencing to enable assembly of a complete genome sequence of strain Xc03-1638-1-1. This study emphasizes the importance of long-read sequencing not only in obtaining intact sequences of TALEs and plasmids, but also identifying rearrangement events including plasmid reshuffling.