Virulence
R. fascians can be a pathogen of plants, both angiosperm or gymnosperm. Infected plants show typical symptoms, such as leaf deformation, witches broom and leaf gall, which development depends on the plant's cultivar, plant's age, and the bacterial strain.
Leaf deformation consists of widening of parenchyma and growth of vascular system, resulting in wrinkling of laminae and widening of veins. Leafy gall is a gall originated from a bud which would not develop under normal conditions. All effects coming from the infection of R. fascians do not depend on plant cells transformation (as for Agrobacterium tumefaciens or Agrobacterium rhizogenes), but on expression of virulence-related genes of bacterium and on the production of compounds that can interfere with normal plant growth and development. During the infection, R. fascians usually stays outside vegetal tissues, near a junction or cavity of a plant's cell walls, maybe to avoid environmental stresses. Presence of R. fascians was also observed in intercellular spaces inside tissues (in leaf or galls) and even inside cell walls. Presence of R. fascians on the infected plant is necessary, not only for the initiation of infection, but also for its maintenance.
Read more about this topic: Rhodococcus Fascians