Abstract
Phytoplasmas are plant pathogenic bacteria associated with devastating damage to over 700 plant species worldwide. It is agriculturally important to identify factors involved in their pathogenicity and to discover effective measures to control phytoplasma diseases. Despite their economic importance, phytoplasmas remain the most poorly characterized plant pathogens, primarily because efforts at in vitro culture, gene delivery, and mutagenesis have been unsuccessful. However, recent molecular studies have revealed unique biological features of phytoplasmas. This review summarizes the history and recent progress in phytoplasma research, focusing on (1) the discovery of phytoplasmas, (2) molecular classification of phytoplasmas, (3) diagnosis of phytoplasma diseases, (4) reductive evolution of the genomes, (5) characteristic features of the plasmids, (6) molecular mechanisms of insect transmissibility, and (7) virulence factors involved in their unique symptoms.
Highlights
Phytoplasmas are plant pathogenic bacteria in the class Mollicutes and are formally called mycoplasma-like organisms (MLOs) (Doi et al 1967)
It is agriculturally important to identify factors involved in their pathogenicity and to discover effective measures to control phytoplasma diseases
This review summarizes the history and recent progress in phytoplasma research, focusing on (1) the discovery of phytoplasmas, (2) molecular classification of phytoplasmas, (3) diagnosis of phytoplasma diseases, (4) reductive evolution of the genomes, (5) characteristic features of the plasmids, (6) molecular mechanisms of insect transmissibility, and (7) virulence factors involved in their unique symptoms
Summary
Photo courtesy of Dr Norio Nishimura (Koibuchi College of Agriculture and Nutrition) century, other phytoplasmal diseases, including paulownia witches’ broom disease (Kawakami 1902) and rice yellow dwarf disease (Anonymous 1919) in Japan, as well as aster yellows disease (Kunkel 1926) in the United States, have been reported. These diseases were initially attributed to plant viruses because of their insect transmissibility and virus-like symptoms. Since classification of MLOs was not possible, each MLO was named
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