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A new phytoplasma associated with witches’‐broom on Japanese maple in China
Author(s) -
Li Z.N.,
Zhang L.,
Zhao L.,
Wu Y.F.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
forest pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.535
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1439-0329
pISSN - 1437-4781
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0329.2012.00769.x
Subject(s) - phytoplasma , biology , sieve tube element , restriction fragment length polymorphism , broom , maple , nested polymerase chain reaction , botany , phylogenetic tree , polymerase chain reaction , phloem , gene , genetics , ecology
Summary In September 2011, five Japanese maple ( Acer palmatum Thunb.) trees with symptoms of witches’‐broom were observed growing near each other at a maple grove in Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, China. Pleomorphic phytoplasma‐like bodies were observed in the phloem sieve tube elements of symptomatic plants under transmission electron microscope (TEM). The presence of phytoplasma was further confirmed by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which amplified a 1.2‐kb fragment using universal primer pair R16mF2/R16mR1 followed by further amplification using primer pair R16F2n/R16R2. Phylogenetic analysis and gel‐based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis demonstrated that the Japanese maple witches’‐broom was associated with phytoplasma belonging to subgroup 16SrI‐D. This is the first report of a phytoplasma disease of Japanese maple.