Phytoplasma induced free-branching in commercial poinsettia cultivars.
Free-branching poinsettia cultivars that produce numerous axillary shoots are essential for propagating desirable multi-flowered poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima Wild. Klotz). For more than a decade, a biological agent has been suspected to cause free-branching in poinsettias. Attempts to identify the branching agent have failed. Isolation of the pathogen was accomplished using a living host and it was concluded that an unculturable phytoplasma is the cause of free-branching in poinsettias. This is the first reported example of a pathogenic phytoplasma as the causal agent of a desirable and economically important trait.
Lee
I M
IM
Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, USDA ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. imlee@asrr.arsusda.gov
Klopmeyer
M
M
Bartoszyk
I M
IM
Gundersen-Rindal
D E
DE
Chou
T S
TS
Thomson
K L
KL
Eisenreich
R
R
D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000378:metabolism; D007221:Industry; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012639:Seeds
D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S