phytoplasma, once known as mycoplasma, small and sometimes microscopic organisms similar to bacteria associated with vine diseases of the phloem, transmitted by insects and grafting. The most serious diseases caused, grapevine yellows, may well have widespread implications for the world’s wine industry in the 21st century. The relentless spread of various forms of phytoplasma continues in many European grape-growing regions, France, Germany, Slovenia, and Hungary among others. In recent years, climate change has been implicated, as the insect vectors spreading the disease migrate polewards.
