The aster yellows disease is caused by the aster yellows phytoplasma (AYP) which is a phloem-limited, bacterium-like organism and is vectored by the aster leafhopper, Macrosteles quadrilineatus, a phloem-feeding insect of the order Hemiptera.
Phytoplasmas are small (0.5-1 μm in diameter) prokaryotes that reproduce by division or budding in the phloem sieve cells of the host plants, as well as the bodies of their leafhopper vectors [REF].