PARIS, Jan 30: A devastating bacterium that causes millions of dollars in crops losses every year has been unmasked by genetic scientists.

Researchers led by Christian Boucher of France’s National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA) will report on Thursday that they have unravelled the genetic sequence of Ralstonia solanacearum.

The bug inflicts a disease called southern wilt, whose targets include more than 200 species of plants, from potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, tobacco to mulberry trees and flowers.

It lurks in the soil in warm and tropical climates, attacking the leaves of the plant, turning them yellow, and then destroys the stem, turning it brown and rotten.

There is no treatment for the disease, and temperate countries, terrified that the bacterium can be imported in roots or leaves, usually impose tough controls on imports from places where there has been an outbreak.—AFP