E-resources
Peer reviewed
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Lee, I.M. (Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD.); Klopmeyer, M; Bartoszyk, I.M; Gundersen-Rindal, D.E; Chou, T.S; Thomson, K.L; Eisenreich, R
Nature biotechnology, 02/1997, Volume: 15, Issue: 2Journal Article
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.
