【正文】
aei sp. nov. associated with mortalities in Penaeus vannamei, Pacific white shrimp. J Syst Evol Microbiol, 2005, 55: 23172322.Isolation and biological characteristics of spiroplasmas from flower surface Supported by the Program for Young Excellent Talents in Nanjing Agricultural University (804052)*Corresponding author. Tel/Fax: +862584395531。 Email: yuhans@ Received: 25 March 2008/ Revised: 25 May 2008Hanshou Yu*, Kangqin Ruan, Yanling Ji, Yongxuan Chen, Zhiwei Wang (Key Laboratory of Microbiological Engineering of Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China)Abstract: [Objective] To obtain the spiroplasma resources and investigate the characteristics of the spiroplasmas on the surface of flowers in China. [Methods] The spiroplasma morphology was examined by darkfield microscope and transmission electron microscopy. The biological characteristics of the spiroplasmas were investigated by using conventional culturedependent method and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene and ITS (16~23S rDNA intergenic space) sequence parisons. Phylogenetic analysss was performed using the software package after multiple alignment of sequence data by CLUSTAL X. [Results] Four spiroplasma isolates were obtained from three kinds of flower surface. Isolates CNR1 and CNR2 were from Brassica napus。 CNA1and CRW1 from Rhododendron simsii and Oxalis corymbosa respectively. All isolates grew well in R2 liquid medium and exhibited contractive movements. The colonies of all isolates were circinal and grainlike in solid medium. Through electron microscopy, all isolates exhibited helicity during their growth phase. All isolates could pass through a μm filtrate membrane and resist to penicillin (2000 U/mL). They must grow in medium with serum. Glucose could be used as their carbon source instead of sucrose. The ability to hydrolyze arginine varied from different spiroplasmas but urea could not be hydrolyzed. The phylogenetic relationships based on 16S rDNA supported CRW1 was close to S. clarkii, and others were close to S. melliferum. The phylogenetic relationship based on ITS sequence supported CRW1 formed a separate clade, and others were also close to Spiroplasma melliferum. [Conclusion] The result indicated that spiroplasma isolate CRW1 might be a new species and other three isolates were S. melliferum, but this need further support of serological test.Keywords: spiroplasma。 biological characteristics。 Brassica napus。 Rhododendron simsii。 Oxalis corymbos