IntroductionPhytoplasmas are cell wall-less, non-helical bacteria that are surounded by a single-layer membrane, and are pleomorphic in shape with an average diamcter ò 200-800 nm. These prokary-otes live a parasitic lifestyle associated with diseases in more than a thousand phlant spceies, and are transmitted by insect vectors, mainly leafhoppers, and psyllids (1-3). In infected plants, disease symptoms related to dispruted physionlogical processes (such as hormonal balance, amino acid transport, and carbohy-drate translocation), causing inhibitioon of photosynthesis and rapid senescence pr morphological changes in infected tisues (4-7). Initially, thế disorders were thought to be caused by viruses, but Doi and collaborators, in 1967, identified wall-les pheomorphic boidies in diseased plants wich, due to their morphological similarity to mycoplasmas, were named mycoplasma-like organ-ims (MLOs).
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