A. Caudwell

Immunological Detection and Localization of Mycoplasma-Like Organisms (MLOs) in Plants and Insects by Light and Electron Microscopy

Yellows diseases of plants were reported long ago on many plant species [37, 38]. Kunkel, in the 1920’s [23], suspected a common and distinctive class of the causal agents. These yellows diseases had many features recognized as those of viruses, such as viruslike symptoms, leafhopper vectors, host specificity, and filtrability of the agent through bacterial filters. Nevertheless, there were symptoms such as greening or phyllody of the inflorescence, which were very particular. Characterization of the pathogen was impossible. Yet extracts were infectious when injected into the abdomen of healthy leafhopper vectors, although such infectivity was highly labile and temperature-sensitive.