The EuroXanth COST Action held its 4^th Annual Conference on “Integrating science on Xanthomonadaceae for integrated plant disease management in Europe” online from 28 to 30 June 2021 (three afternoons at Paris time). This conference served as a platform to exchange knowledge and to share technical knowhow with respect to members of the Xanthomonadaceae family. The deadline for Registration was Sunday, May 23. The program and book of abstracts can be downloaded from our website: Program & Book of Abstracts (ISBN 978-86-7834-377-3). Registered participants have access to all posters and most of the videos via our password-protected website.

The conference addressed topics of all four Working Groups:
Session 1: Diagnostics & Diversity – Population Structure
Session 2: Pathogen Biology
Session 3: Genetic Resistance – Host Defence
Session 4: Disease Management – Vector Control

All four topics were well represented. In total, 29 invited talks and 45 poster presentations were given. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow to meet in person. On the other hand, switching to an online format allowed joining with more colleagues than it would have been possible with an on-site conference. Yet, we missed social activities that would give ample time for interesting discussions and often lead to new collaborations. No doubt that this large gathering of scientists from Europe and beyond working on Xanthomonas and Xylella can be considered as a great success of the EuroXanth COST Action. The success is also linked to the great job that was done by the organisers, Prof. Dr. Aleksa Obradović (University of Belgrade) and Dr. Katarina Gašić (Institute for Plant Protection and Environment, Belgrade), both from Serbia. We would also like to thank the staff from ARIA.ONE for their professional support in organising this event. Thanks a lot to all of you for your commitment!

Keynote speakers:

Name	Affiliation	Title of presentation
Julian J. SMITH	Rothamsted Research, Hertfordshire, UK	Opening Talk: How can Plant Health ‘Get ahead of the disease curve’
Neha POTNIS	Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA	Understanding the basis of host adaptation in a stealthy plant pathogenic bacterium, Xanthomonas
Maria SAPONARI	Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, Bari, Italy	Control of Xylella fastidiosa in Europe: from eradication to containment measures
Boris A. VINATZER	Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA	Towards fast, sensitive, and precise plant pathogen detection and identification using metagenomic sequencing and curated databases
Bing YANG	University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA	Exploiting natural and engineered rice resistance to bacterial blight

Scientific Committee of the conference:

Name	Role	Country	Working group
KOEBNIK, Ralf	Chair	FR	WG2
CATARA, Vittoria	Vice Chair	IT	WG3
COSTA, Joana	WG1 Leader	PT	WG1
POTHIER, Joël	WG2 Leader	CH	WG2
BOCH, Jens	WG3 Leader	DE	WG3
STEFANI, Emilio	WG4 Leader	IT	WG4
OBRADOVIĆ, Aleksa	MC Member	RS	WG4
GAŠIC, Katarina	MC Member	RS	WG1
MORELLI, Massimiliano	ECI Representative	IT	WG1

Organising Committee of the conference:

Name	Role	Country	Working group
ARIA.ONE	Conference Organiser	RS
GAŠIC, Katarina	MC Member	RS	WG1
KOEBNIK, Ralf	Chair	FR	WG2
OBRADOVIĆ, Aleksa	MC Member	RS	WG4

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With kind regards,

Ralf Koebnik, Chair of the COST Action
Aleksa Obradović, Chair of Local Organising Committee
Cécile Gerdy, Grant Holder Administrator

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e-POSTER GUIDELINES

Deadline for submitting e-Posters: Thursday, 10 June 2021
Please submit your e-Poster as 1-page PDF file in portrait orientation.

• Language: All e-Posters should be prepared in English.
• File format: 1-page PDF format, portrait orientation, A4 is recommended.
• Font types: Arial, Calibri or Verdana fonts are recommended.
• Font size: 9 points or larger are recommended.
• File size: Less than 5 MB recommended.
• Animated images, animations and videos are not recommended.
• Images and tables: good picture quality is essential.
• Avoid overlapping objects and layers.
• When saving your PDF please do not use symbols  or special characters (ie. +/@/ü) in the file name. The file name should be: Your name and the title of your work.

E-Poster abstracts will be available in the virtual platform at all times for the participants during the conference.

VENUE and COSTS

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to abandon our idea of organising the conference at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Agriculture. Instead, the conference will now be held online. Participation will come without fees but requires registration and acceptance by the scientific committee.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Feel free to contact us for any content-related matters or organizational issues at the following addresses:

ARIA.ONE (euroxanthconf2021@ariaone-cc.com)
Katarina Gašić (gasickatarina@yahoo.com)
Ralf Koebnik (ralf.koebnik@ird.fr)
Aleksa Obradović (aleksao@agrif.bg.ac.rs)