Life Cycle and Culturing of Phytomonas serpens (Gibbs), a Trypanosomatid Parasite of Tomatoes

Pure cultures of a trypanosomatid isolated from tomato fruits infected laboratory-raised tomatoes and nymphs of the hemipieran coreid Phthia picta . The flagellate could be transmitted back and forth from tomatoes to insects. Light and electron microscopy studies were done on culture, tomato and insect forms. Examination of enzymes of the ornithine-arginine metabolism revealed absence of arginase and presence of arginine deiminase and citrulline hydrolase. Monoclonal antibodies specific for Phytomonas spp. reacted positively with tomato and insect forms. Endonuclease digestion of the k-DNA of various Phytomonas spp. revealed a unique, distinctive pattern for the tomato flagellate. This flagellate thus seems to constitute a separate species of Phytomonas which we now call Phytomonas serpens (Gibbs).