Molecular Biological Studies on Phytoplasmas(Lectures by the Winners of the Society Fellowship)

概要

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Phytoplasmas are phytopathogenic prokaryotes that were formerly named mycoplasma-like organisms (MLOs), which were first found in Japan in 1967. Phytoplasmas are known to cause many serious agricultural diseases (e.g., mulberry dwarf disease and rice yellow dwarf disease). The symptoms on infected plants include yellowing or reddening of leaves, shortening of internodes with stunted growth, smaller leaves, excessive proliferation of shoots resulting in a witches' broom, phyllody, virescence, sterile flowers, necrosis of the phloem tissues, dieback of branches of woody plants, and general decline and death of the plant. These diseases were once believed to be viral diseases, although the causal agent of each disease was unknown. The discovery of phytoplasmas attracted worldwide attention to this new genre of microorganisms. In the subsequent 35 years, the molecular biology of phytoplasmas has not been well characterized, since there is no method of successfully culturing these agriculturally and biologically important microorganisms causing more than 600 diseases all over the world. Recently, phytoplasmas have infected and killed large numbers of paulownia trees in China. Fears of similar outbreaks elsewhere and their effect on agricultural production are expected to stimulate immediate progress in the study of these microorganisms and the development of control strategies.
日本植物病理学会の論文
2002-08-25