Their feeding method, along with their voracious appetite for so many different hosts, makes glassy-winged sharpshooters an effective vector for the "Xylella fastidiosa" bacterium. Once the sharpshooter feeds on an infected plant, "X. fastidiosa" colonizes it by forming a biofilm on its mouth-parts. The sharpshooter then transmits the disease to additional plants while feeding. A plant that is not affected by any of the diseases caused by "X. fastidiosa" becomes a reservoir, holding the bacterium for other sharpshooters to pick up and carry to other plants. "X. fastidiosa" is linked to many plant diseases, including phoney peach disease in the southern United States, oleander leaf scorch and Pierce's disease in California, and citrus X disease in Brazil.