Genetic Variation in Spiroplasma citri

Spiroplasmas are members of the Class Mollicutes, wall-less prokaryotes having a high adenosine–thymidine content in their small genomes. Spiroplasma citri is a plant pathogen that inhabits phloem. Like other phytopathogenic spiroplasmas and the related phytoplasmas, it is transmitted from plant to plant by phloem-feeding leafhoppers that serve as alternate hosts for the spiroplasma as well as vectors. Genetic information in spiroplasmas is carried on a circular chromosome, on plasmids and/or in virus genomes. A picture emerging from recent research on the S. citri genome is one of frequent and often extensive variation, resulting from a number of different mechanisms. Expansion and contraction events must continually be occurring in about equal proportions so that the net genome size varies within defined boundaries. Particularly impressive are large changes in genome size that can occur in only a few generations. As with most organisms, genetic variation in S. citri results from variation in extrachromosomal DNA content, changes due to DNA replication and repair processes and changes due to recombination. The implied flux of genetic information into and out of the S. citri genome should be beneficial to the bacterium, allowing it, with its small genome size, to adapt to new environments.