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Spiroplasma kunkelii is a helical, cell wall-less prokaryote (bacterium) that causes the plant disease known as corn stunt or achaparramiento. When discovered in the MPPL, it was the first helical, cell wall-less organism known. S. kunkelii is transmitted from corn plant to corn plant by insect vectors, specifically leafhoppers in the genus Dalbulus.
The complete sequence of the genome of S. kunkelii strain CR2-3x is being determined in a collaboration initiated among the USDA-Agricultural Research Service's Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory (MPPL) and the University of Oklahoma's Advanced Center for Genome Technology (ACGT).
Other participants include the University of Brasilia's Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the Oklahoma State University's Plant Pathology Department, and the Phytovirus Laboratory, Institute of Botany in Vilnius, Lithuania.
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