Fruit Crop Diseases

Study of the molecular interaction phytoplasma-insect to distinguish vector from non-vector species of apple proliferation

Only few information on the mechanism of phytoplasma transmission by insect vectors is available and the question why one insect species is an efficient vector and a closely related species or a geographically differently distributed population of the same species is not is still unacknowledged. First results from a phytoplasma-leafhopper-vector system show that interactions between membrane proteins of the pathogen and microfilament complexes of the insects function on the basis of a key-lock principle. Within the project the molecular interactions between the agent of apple proliferation disease, Candidatus Phytoplasmas mali, and its various insect vectors shall be analysed on the protein level. The investigations are predominantly focused on psyllids as main vectors of Ca. P. mali. But they also include other insect species in order to achieve a general discrimination between vector and non-vector species.

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Stiftung Rheinland-Pfalz für Innovation "Study of the molecular interaction phytoplasma-insect to distinguish vector from non-vector species of apple proliferation"





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