Aster yellows (AY) group (16SrI) phytoplasmas are associated with more than 100 economically important diseases worldwide and represent the most diverse and widespread phytoplasma group. Phylogenetic analysis of secY gene sequences resolved 10 genetically distinct lineages. The 10 lineages coincide with those delineated by phylogenetic analysis based on ribosomal protein (rp) gene sequences. Ho...

Pear decline is a very important phytoplasma disease that causes considerable quantitative and qualitative losses to this fruit crop. Due to economical importance of pear in Isfahan province, Iran, and the difficulty to determine the occurrence of the disease simply based on symptoms in orchards, a detection method for the phytoplasma causing disease in pears in the region was developed. Since ...

Phytoplasmas are insect-transmitted phytopathogenic bacteria that can alter plant morphology and the longevity and reproduction rates and behavior of their insect vectors. There are various examples of animal and plant parasites that alter the host phenotype to attract insect vectors, but it is unclear how these parasites accomplish this. We hypothesized that phytoplasmas produce effectors that...

The discovery in 1967, of a new group of plant pathogens related to bacteria led to the finding of pleomorphic, wall-less prokaryotes in the phloem of many plant species affected by yellows-type diseases. Following the application of molecular technologies the phylogeny of these prokaryotes was resolved and led to the new trivial name of “phytoplasma” and to the designation of a new taxon named...

Phytoplasmas are dangerous bacteria severely infecting agricultural production worldwide. In the present study, identification of phytoplasmas tomato plants showing symptoms such as small leaves, flower abnormalities, stunting, witches' broom, and reddening was performed. Five plants, two symptomatic three asymptomatic, were tested to verify phytoplasma infection. Total DNA isolated from 5 leaf...

Phytoplasmas are plant-pathogenic bacteria that cause numerous diseases. This study shows a strong positive selection on the phytoplasma antigenic membrane protein (Amp). The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions was >1 with all the methods we tested. The clear positive selections imply an important biological role for Amp in host-bacterium interactions.

Phytoplasmas are bacterial plant pathogens with devastating impact on agricultural production worldwide. In eastern Africa, Napier grass stunt disease causes serious economic losses in the smallholder dairy industry. This draft genome sequence of " ITALIC! CandidatusPhytoplasma oryzae" strain Mbita1 provides insight into its genomic organization and the molecular basis of pathogenicity.

Phytoplasmas are bacterial plant pathogens that can affect different vegetal hosts. In South America, a phytoplasma belonging to ribosomal subgroup 16SrIII-J has been reported in many crops. Here we report its genomic draft sequence, showing a total length of 687,253 bp and a G+C content of 27.72%.