Nature Biotechnology
15, 178 - 182 (1997)
doi:10.1038/nbt0297-178
Phytoplasma induced free-branching in commercial poinsettia cultivarsIng-Ming Lee*, Michael Klopmeyer2, Irena M. Bartoszyk1, Dawn E. Gundersen-Rindal1, Tau-San Chou2, Karen L. Thomson2
& Robert Eisenreich2
1Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, USDA ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705;
2Ball FloraPlant, West Chicago, IL 60185-2698.
*Corresponding author (e-mail: imlee@asrr.arsusda.gov) 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.
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