Dr. Ing-Ming Lee

Emerging and re-emerging plant diseases due to vascular-limited walled bacteria and cell wall-less microbes like phytoplasmas and spiroplasmas are causing economic losses to agricultural crops and damage to plants in the natural environment.

The major focus of my laboratory is to develop new and improved molecular technologies for detection, identification, and classification of plant pathogenic phytoplasmas, spiroplasmas, and vascular-limited bacteria.

• Expansion of the current scheme for phytoplasma classification
• Delineation of molecular criteria for distinguishing among phytoplasma species and establishing a formal genus Phytoplasma taxonomy
• Physiology and molecular biology of phytoplasma-induced diseases

Vinca: Phytoplasma infected periwinkle exhibiting virescence and phyllody symptoms