Mycoplasma-like Organisms

Abstract

In 1967, some Japanese workers, Doi et al. and Ishiie et al. made a discovery that has had a profound effect, not only in the field of plant virology but on plant pathology as a whole. They demonstrated that there were micro-organisms in the sieve elements of affected individuals of four plant disorders of the ‘yellows’ type which had long been regarded as typical virus diseases. These were aster yellows, mulberry dwarf, potato witches’ broom and Paulownia witches’ broom. These organisms, shown to be the cause of the diseases, possessed no cell wall and were restricted to the phloem. They were referred to as Mycoplasma or Mycoplasma-like organisms (MLO).