Annals of Applied Biology (2023) 182, 159-170

Asem Habes Abu Alloush, Piero Attilio Bianco, Sadeer Amashah, Enrico Busato, Amre Mahasneh, Mahmoud AlShoubaki, Alberto Alma, Rosemarie Tedeschi and Fabio Quaglino (2023)
Identification of four distinct ' Candidatus Phytoplasma' species in pomegranate trees showing witches' broom, little leaf and yellowing in Jordan, and preliminary insights on their putative insect vectors and reservoir plants
Annals of Applied Biology 182 (2), 159-170
Abstract: During field surveys conducted in northern Jordan from June to November 2020, phytoplasma-like symptoms, including leaf yellowing/reddening and rolling, little leaf and witches' broom were observed in pomegranate. Disease incidence in 22 surveyed orchards ranged from 30% to 65%. Nested PCR-based amplification of 16S rRNA gene detected phytoplasmas in 17% of collected symptomatic pomegranate trees. Amplicon nucleotide sequence analyses allowed attributing the detected phytoplasmas to ' Candidatus Phytoplasma solani', ' Ca. P. aurantifolia', ' Ca. P. asteris' and ' Ca. P. ulmi'. These phytoplasmas were found in plants showing specific symptoms and differentially distributed in the considered locations. Additionally, three cicadellids (Macrosteles sexnotatus, Cicadulina bipunctata and Psammotettix striatus) and two non-crop plants (Plantago major and Capsicum annuum) resulted hosting ' Ca. P. asteris' strains, and one cicadellid (Balclutha incisa) was carrying a ' Ca. P. solani' strain. A new pomegranate disease complex associated with multiple phytoplasmas, including ' Ca. P. aurantifolia' and ' Ca. P. ulmi', never reported before in this host plant, is described here. Moreover, preliminary indications are provided on its possible epidemiology in Jordan, involving two putative insect vectors (M. sexnotatus, B. incisa) first reported in the Country.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Piero Attilio Bianco, Alberto Alma, Rosemarie Tedeschi

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Phytoplasma asteris	Pomegranate (Punica granatum)	Jordan
	Phytoplasma solani	Pomegranate (Punica granatum)	Jordan
	Phytoplasma aurantifolia	Pomegranate (Punica granatum)	Jordan
	Phytoplasma ulmi	Pomegranate (Punica granatum)	Jordan
	Macrosteles sexnotatus	Pomegranate (Punica granatum)	Jordan