Is there a protocol for developing polyclonal antisera for phytoplasma?
(Response from Dez Barbara) Several procedures for producing polyclonal antisera to phytoplasmas derived from plants have been published, starting way back in 1983 with publications by the the groups of Chen (aster yellows if I remember correctly) and Clark (clover phyllody – work I was involved in and published as Clark M.F., Barbara, D.J. & Davies, D.L. (1983). Production and characteristics of antisera to Spiroplasma citri and clover phyllody associated antigens derived from plants. Annals of Applied Biology, 103, 251-259). Others that I can remember off the top of my head have been published to apple proliferation (groups of Seemuller and HRI), primula yellows (Clark again), flavescence doree (Boudon-Padieu I think). Similar approaches have been tried successfully against a number of other phytoplasmas both published and unpublished. These procedures are all based on purifying phytoplasma proteins (probably in association with membranes) from infected plants. They don’t work with a
