Spiroplasma spp.: A Plant, Arthropod, Animal and Human Pathogen

Abstract

Mollicutes is a class of smallest and free-living bacteria. They have no cell wall and their plasma membrane contains cholesterol; nevertheless, cellular organization does not differ from that of other prokaryotes. They are used as simple model systems for studying general biological problems, such as those concerning membrane structure and functions, symbiosis between arthropods and microrganisms, animal and plant pathogens. Mollicutes includes the family of Spiroplamataceae, which contains Spiroplasma genus, a group of species associated, in different manner, with arthropods (insects, mites, crustaceans). Spiroplasma species can be commensals or parasites and even be involved in more close symbiosis, such as synergism or mutualism. Out of 38 described Spiroplasma species, only three have been associated with plant diseases and three with arthropod diseases. Moreover, some species have been related to animal diseases, such as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), and their role in human disease has been assessed.The chapter describes the taxonomic situation of the genus and reports the most important diseases due to the presence of Spiroplasma in different living organisms with special emphasis on citrus in which it causes one of the most economically damaging infectious diseases in a number of citrus growing areas worldwide.

Spider phylosymbiosis: divergence of widow spider species and their tissues’ microbiomes

“…Interestingly, Gilliamella has been determined to be a major symbiont of bees and was isolated from the guts of Apis mellifera [39][40][41] and multiple Bombus species [40][41][42]. Spiroplasma is also a well-characterized bacterial symbiont of many arthropods and was found to dominate the whole L. hesperus samples [43][44][45]. This particular symbiont is thought to provide certain arthropod hosts protection against parasitoid wasps, nematodes and fungal pathogens, but is considered pathogenic in bees (A. mellifera) and mosquitoes (Culex tritaeniorhynchus and Aedes sollicitans) [43].…”

Corn Stunt Disease: An Ideal Insect–Microbial–Plant Pathosystem for Comprehensive Studies of Vector-Borne Plant Diseases of Corn

“…For example, the population suppression or replacement of laboratory Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes that are vectors of arboviruses and malaria, respectively, has been achieved using genetic pest control strategies that utilize a gene drive mechanism (reviewed in Macias et al [ 51 ]). Similarly, these may be applied to protecting agricultural systems by specifically targeting and disrupting pathogen transmission by rendering vectors refractory to infection or just abolishing pathogen acquisition and/or transmission [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. To find successful candidates for genetic pest control, much of the recent studies have focused on first achieving a more comprehensive understanding of the complex series of events leading to successful insect vector-phytopathogen-plant interactions [ 10 ].…”

Efeito do estádio de desenvolvimento da planta e densidade populacional do inseto vetor, >i<Dalbulus maidis>/i< (DeLong & Wolcott) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), sobre a transmissão e danos do fitoplasma do milho

“…Os espiroplasmas, ao contrário de fitoplasmas que são todos fitopatogênicos, possuem ampla diversidade de hospedeiros, incluindo plantas, invertebrados e vertebrados (Bové 1997;Ballinger and Perlman 2019), com os quais mantém interações patogênicas, comensais ou mutualísticas (Ammar et al 2004;Cacciola et al 2017). Entretanto, somente três espécies de espiroplasmas provocam doenças em plantas: Spiroplasma citri, S. kunkelii e S. phoeniceum (Gasparich 2010), associadas a doença em citros (Markham et al 1974), milho (Chen and Liao 1975;Nault 1980;Whitcomb et al 1986) e vinca (Saillard et al 1987), respectivamente.…”