Infection of sugarcane cultivars by phytoplasma

在20世纪90年代，一种被称为黄叶综合征的甘蔗疾病在世界各地的种植园中被记录下来。提出了一种病毒（甘蔗黄叶病毒）和一种细菌病原体（甘蔗植原体）作为病原体。与此同时，该病毒被确定为致病因子，许多工作都集中在该病毒上。然而，症状和病毒存在之间的关系并不严格。一份报告称植物原体可能会促进症状的发展。我们的初步工作现在在夏威夷品种中发现了2株植物原体菌株，它们也被病毒感染。该项目打算进一步描述这些植物原体菌株的特征，测试哪种处理方法可以消除植物原体，评估有多少种植园植物被植物原体感染，确定有症状植物与无症状植物的植物原体滴度，并确定种植园中发现的植物原体可能的昆虫媒介是否被植物原体感染。

In the 1990s a sugarcane disease called Yellow Leaf Syndrome was recorded in plantations worldwide. A viral (Sugarcane Yellow Leaf Virus) and a bacterial pathogen (Sugarcane Phytoplasma) were proposed as pathogens. In the meantime the virus was identified as a causal agent and much work concentrated on the virus. However, the relationship between symptoms and viral presence is not strict. One report claims that phytoplasma may enhance the symptom development. Our preliminary work now identified 2 phytoplasma strains in Hawaiian cultivars, which were also infected by the virus. The project intends- to further characterize these phytoplasma strains,- to test which treatment eliminates phytoplasma,- to evaluate how much plantation plants are infected by phytoplasma,- to determine phytoplasma titer in symptomatic versus non-symptomatic plants,- and to determine whether the probable insect vectors of phytoplasma, which are found in the plantations, are infected by phytoplasma.