Bulletin of Insectology (2007) 60, 289-290

A.M. Al-Subhi, N.A. Al-Saady and A.J. Khan (2007)
Molecular characterization of phytoplasma associated with Echinops witches' broom disease
Bulletin of Insectology 60 (2), 289-290
First International Phytoplasmologist Working Group Meeting (IPWG), Bologna (Italy) November 12-15, 2007
Abstract: Echinops spinosissimus plants in Al-Sharqiya region were found having excessive leaf and shoot growth and stunting reminiscent of phytoplasma symptoms. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify 16S ribosomal gene of phytoplasma using universal primers P1/P7. The PCR amplifications from all infected plants yielded a product of 1.8 kb by P1/P7. Restriction fragment length polymorphism showed that E. spinosissimus phytoplasma is different from alfalfa and lime witches' broom phytoplasmas from Oman. Sequence homology results on BLAST and phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences confirms that the closest phytoplasma relatives of Echinops witches' broom phytoplasma are members of pigeon pea witches' broom phytoplasma ribosomal group (16SrIX) that share more then 98% 16S rDNA sequence similarity.
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Database assignments for author(s): Ali M. Al-Subhi, Akhtar Jamal Khan

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	16SrIX phytoplasma group		Oman