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Science 6 June 1975:
Vol. 188. no. 4192, pp. 1015 - 1017
DOI: 10.1126/science.188.4192.1015
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Articles

Corn Stunt Spiroplasma: Isolation, Cultivation, and Proof of Pathogenicity

Tseh An Chen 1 and Ching Hsing Liao 1

1 Plant Biology Department, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903

A spiroplasma isolated from corn infected with corn stunt disease has been successfully cultivated in vitro. Acid formation was associated with its growth in liquid medium, and fried egg-shaped or granulated colonies developed on solid agar medium. Healthy leafhopper vectors injected with or allowed to feed on isolates from various serial passages through liquid medium were able to transmit the corn stunt agent to healthy corn plants, inducing typical corn stunt disease in the plants. The spiroplasma was reisolated and cultivated from such diseased plants and was indistinguishable morphologically from the original isolates. These results provide the first definite proof that the corn stunt disease is caused by the corn stunt spiroplasma.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Spiroplasmas: Diversity of Arthropod Reservoirs and Host-Parasite Relationships.
T. B. CLARK (1982)
Science 217, 57-59
   Abstract »    PDF »
Pathogenic mycoplasmas: cultivation and vertebrate pathogenicity of a new spiroplasma.
J. Tully, R. Whitcomb, H. Clark, and D. Williamson (1977)
Science 195, 892-894
   Abstract »    PDF »
Plant Mycoplasmas: A Cultivable Spiroplasma Causes Corn Stunt Disease.
D. L. Williamson and R. F. Whitcomb (1975)
Science 188, 1018-1020
   Abstract »    PDF »


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