Phytoplasmas : diagnosis, control, epidemiology and interaction with host plants and vectors

Italian research on phytoplasmas is very active and recently it has focussed on several topics, such as the development of new, rapid and sensitive tools for detection and quantification of these prokaryotes in their hosts, the correlation between pathogenicity and pathogen concentration, the identification of molecular tools for the differentiation of phytoplasmas and the possible correlation between phytoplasma isolates and epidemiology of the diseases, development of management strategies to reduce their economic impact. Studies on insect vectors, physiology of the infected plants and on hosts-phytoplasma relationships are also performed. We briefly describe the most important results obtained in the last years and propose perspectives for future development.