Xylella fastidiosa is the most damaging pathogen in many parts of the world. To increase diagnostic capability of X. fastidiosa in the field, the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay were developed to mqsA gene of citrate-synthase (XF 1535) X. fastidiosa and evaluated for speci- ficity and sensitivity. Both assays were more robust than current published tests for detection of X. fastidiosa when screened against 16 isolates representing the four major subgroups of the bacterium from a range of host species. No cross reaction with DNA from healthy hosts or other species of bacteria has been observed. The LAMP and PCR assays could detect 10-4 pmol and 100 copies of the gene, respectively. Hydroxynaphthol blue was evaluated as an endpoint detection method for LAMP. There was a significant color shift that sig- naled the existence of the bacterium when at least 100 copies of the target template were present.