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Phytoplasma induced free-branching in commercial poinsettia cultivars

Nature Biotechnology volume 15, pages 178–182 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

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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Author notes

  1. Ing-Ming Lee: Corresponding author (e-mail: imlee@asrr.arsusda.gov)

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, USDA ARS, Beltsville, MD, 20705

    Irena M. Bartoszyk & Dawn E. Gundersen-Rindal

  2. Ball FloraPlant, West Chicago, IL, 60185-2698

    Michael Klopmeyer, Tau-San Chou, Karen L. Thomson & Robert Eisenreich

Authors
  1. Ing-Ming Lee
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  2. Michael Klopmeyer
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  3. Irena M. Bartoszyk
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  4. Dawn E. Gundersen-Rindal
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  5. Tau-San Chou
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  6. Karen L. Thomson
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  7. Robert Eisenreich
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Lee, IM., Klopmeyer, M., Bartoszyk, I. et al. Phytoplasma induced free-branching in commercial poinsettia cultivars. Nat Biotechnol 15, 178–182 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0297-178

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