"the birds and the bees"

Xanthomonas campestris, also known as the black rot bacterium is a seedborne pathogen.  Even though Xcc favor warm, wet environments, it is still capable of surviving through the winter months while remaining dormant in certain parts of host plants in the pasture fields.  When spring begins and the new seedlings emerge, the once dormant bacterium passes from the cotyledons and into the newly forming leaves.  Once the bacterium infects the plant internally, it attacks the xylem tissue which then spreads the bacterium throughout the rest of the plant.  When under ideal conditions, Xcc uses rain as a water transporter, blowing infected plant fragments through the wind, and transport via insects and humans to effectively spread the black rot bacterium to other hosts.

The main type of reproduction amongst bacteria is asexually, chiefly by binary fission.  Binary fission is the process in which a single bacterium replicates its own genetic material and then continues to grow until it is able to undergo cytokinesis and divide into two identical daughter cells.  Since Xcc is a gram-negative bacterium its walls are more flexible, then gram-positive bacteria, allowing the simple action of pinching inward to separate and form two daughter cells.

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…now I know Xanthomonas campestris sounds like such an ideal mate, but make sure to check out the certain adaptations it partakes in before planning anything permanent.

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