phytoplasma

noun

phy·​to·​plas·​ma ˌfī-tə-ˈplaz-mə 

: any of a group of bacteria that are related to mycoplasmas, cause plant diseases (such as aster yellows or elm yellows) by infecting phloem tissue, and are transmitted especially by homopteran insect vectors

Note: Phytoplasmas are assigned temporary taxonomic names because they cannot yet be grown in artificial media as required in bacterial nomenclature for a fully valid name.

For almost half a century, plant pathologists thought phytoplasmas were viruses. To this day, the inability to grow these bacteria outside plants or insects hinders efforts to get a handle on their biology and genomes.

—Evelyn Strauss

called also mycoplasma-like organism

Examples of phytoplasma in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These look like the symptoms of aster yellows, a disease caused by a type of virus called a phytoplasma. —Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 28 July 2022

Usually, sap-feeding insects (aphids, leafhoppers, thrips, etc.) serve as the vector since the virus or phytoplasma can’t survive outside of plant tissue. —Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 28 July 2022

Along for the ride will be their good friend, the phytoplasma. —New York Times, 1 Oct. 2021

The plant’s neighbors grow old, reproduce and die, but the phytoplasma’s eerily youthful host persists. —New York Times, 1 Oct. 2021

It’s caused by a phytoplasma transmitted by an insect called a planthopper. —Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 25 Aug. 2021

Word History

Etymology

phyto- + plasma (after mycoplasma), now taken as a New Latin genus name

Note: "In 1994, the name 'phytoplasma' was adopted by the Phytoplasma Working Team at the 10th Congress of the International Organization of Mycoplasmology to collectively denote MLOs [myoplasma-like organisms]." (Saskia A. Hougenhout et al., "Phytoplasmas: bacteria that manipulate plants and insects," Molecular Plant Pathology, vol. 9, no. 4, July, 2008, pp. 403-23.)

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above