The aster yellows controversy: current status

Evidence for and against the spiroplasmal etiology of aster yellows (AY) disease is examined. A spiroplasma, serologically identical to Spiroplasma citri, was cultivated by some workers from lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) plants claimed to be naturally infected with AY. The isolated spiroplasma was shown to be infectious by injecting Macrosteles fascifrons with the cultured organisms and then confining the injected leafhoppers on healthy plants. The reports claiming that a spiroplasma is the etiological agent of AY, however, exist only in astract form, and several essential questions still need to be answered to substantiate the claim. Evidence against the claim is based on significant differences that have been observed between the behavior of S. citri and the AY agent in the leafhoppers as well as in the plant. Also, helical organisms could not be found in AY-infected plants by either scanning or immunosorbent electron microscopy, and S. citri is serologically unrelated to the mycoplasma-like organisms found in AY-infected plants. These results strongly support the conclusion that the classical AY disease is not caused by a variant of S. citri.