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Association of a phytoplasma with a yellow leaf syndrome of sugarcane in Africa
Author(s) -
CRONJÉ C P R,
TYMON A M,
JONES P.,
BAILEY R A
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1998.tb05818.x
Subject(s) - phytoplasma , biology , 16s ribosomal rna , sieve tube element , phloem , botany , restriction fragment length polymorphism , intergenic region , aster yellows , genotype , pathogen , leafhopper , bacteria , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , genome , hemiptera
Summary. Evidence is presented for the association of a phytoplasma, provisionally named sugarcane yellows phytoplasma (ScYP), in sugarcane affected by a yellow leaf syndrome. The phytoplasma was consistently detected in leaves of more than 40 varieties from eight African countries. It was present in all symptomatic as well as some asymptomatic field grown cane samples but not in plants grown from true seed, and it was also observed in phloem sieve tubes by transmission electron microscopy. Phytoplasma 16S rDNA was confirmed by PCR, and restriction fragment analysis using Rsal and Haelll confirmed that PCR‐amplified products were of phytoplasma rather than of plant or of other pathogen origin. Sequences obtained from the intergenic spacer region, between the 16S and 23S rDNA genes, confirmed the identity of the phytoplasma as belonging to the western X group of phytoplasmas.