Query: NC_007716:266500 Aster yellows witches'-broom phytoplasma AYWB, complete genome Lineage: Aster yellows witches'-broom phytoplasma; Phytoplasma; Acholeplasmataceae; Acholeplasmatales; Tenericutes; Bacteria General Information: Mycoplasma-like plant pathogen. Aster yellows witches'-broom phytoplasma belongs to a group of mycoplasma-like organisms that infect plants and insects. Phytoplasmas are insect-transmitted plant pathogens that cause economically important diseases in many plant species, including vegetables, ornamentals, and fruit crops. Aster yellows is a sporadic disease of vegetable crops and is transmitted by the aster leafhopper.
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General Information: This well studied laboratory strain (Porton isolate) is not virulent due to the loss of the two plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2. Under starvation conditions this group of bacteria initiate a pathway that leads to endospore formation, a process that is thoroughly studied and is a model system for prokaryotic development and differentiation. Spores are highly resistant to heat, cold, dessication, radiation, and disinfectants, and enable the organism to persist in otherwise inhospitable environments. Under more inviting conditions the spores germinate to produce vegetative cells. This organism was the first to be shown to cause disease by Dr. Louis Pasteur (the organism, isolated from sick animals, was grown in the laboratory and then used to infect healthy animals and make them sick). This organism was also the first for which an attenuated strain was developed as a vaccine. Herbivorous animals become infected with the organism when they ingest spores from the soil whereas humans become infected when they come into contact with a contaminated animal. PA/LF and PA/EF complexes are internalized by host cells where the LF (metalloprotease) and EF (calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase) components act. At high levels LF induces cell death and release of the bacterium while EF increases host susceptibility to infection and promotes fluid accumulation in the cells.