VIEW ARTICLE

Cellular Morphology and Reproduction of the Mycoplasmalike Organism Associated with Citrus Stubborn Disease. Abd El-Shafy A. Fudl-Allah, Postgraduate Research Plant Pathologist, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92502, Present address of Senior Author: Department of Plant Production, College of Agriculture, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya; E. C. Calavan, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92502. Phytopathology 64:1309-1313. Accepted for publication 13 May 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-64-1309.

Electron micrographs showed that filaments and round, ovoid, or irregular-shaped mycoplasmalike bodies, similar to those present in sieve tubes of stubborn-diseased citrus, are present in liquid and agar cultures. The organism is bound by a triple-layered membrane with little or no cell wall. Helical filaments were seen by electron and phase contrast microscopy in vitro and in vivo. The organism is motile and appears to reproduce by filaments through fragmentation and subsequent release of spherical elementary spore-like bodies.