About Widely Prevalent Bacteria of the United States
The Widely Prevalent Plant Pathogenic Bacteria List is periodically updated by regional coordinators working in collaboration with plant pathology personnel designated by the state department of agriculture in each state.
A "Widely Prevalent" organism is defined by the WPBL working group as an organism that:
- is widely distributed in any given five year period in the State where the host plant(s) is grown. It does not have to be encountered every year at every location
- would raise no new regulatory concerns at the State or Federal level if it was identified
The Widely Prevalent Plant Pathogenic Bacteria list is made available for the use of plant pathologists, educators, and others interested in bacteria. The development of the list for each state relies on the expertise and knowledge of Cooperative Extension plant pathologists, scientific publications, and other information accumulated over a number of years, in collaboration with State Plant Regulatory Officers The list is not necessarily conclusive nor complete, and thus, it should not be used as a source of information for legal purposes. Bacterial species may be added or deleted as scientific expertise on distribution of bacterial species, taxonomic status, and other conditions change over time.
PLEASE NOTE: a permit is still required in order to bring the organism into your state, even though it may be listed in this database.
The database is used by the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection Quarantine (APHIS-PPQ) and State Plant Regulatory Officials to develop a list of bacterial plant pathogens that are common in each state to help expedite the permitting process for obtaining research isolates. The list of pathogens that are candidates for expedited permitting in a given state are available on the APHIS-PPQ Expedited Permit list. Even though a pathogen is on the widely prevalent list, it is NOT necessarily on the expedited permit list. The APHIS-PPQ Expedited Permit list is available on the APHIS website, along with standard permit conditions.
Regional Coordinators
- Mohammad Arif, University of Hawai‘i - HI, PR
- Jianchi Chen, USDA ARS - AK, AZ, CA, NV
- Jacqueline Fletcher, Oklahoma State University - CO, KS, NM, OK, UT
- Jong Hyun Ham, Louisiana State University - AR, LA, MO, TX
- Alejandra Huerta, North Carolina State University - KY, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV
- Jeff Jones, University of Florida - AL, FL, GA, MS
- Katya Nikolaeva, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture - DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA
- Brenda K. Schroeder, University of Idaho - ID, MT, OR, WA, WY
- George Sundin, Michigan State University - IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI
- Lindsay Triplett, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station - CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
- Anne Vidaver, University of Nebraska-Lincoln - IA, ND, NE, SD