Phytoparasitica (1996) 24, p. 330 (Kaminska et al.)
M. Kaminska, T. Malinowski, B. Komorowska and A. Rudzinska-Langwald (1996)
Etiology of yellows and witches' broom symptoms in some ornamental plants
Phytoparasitica 24 (4), 330-330
The Ninth International Symposium on Virus Diseases of Ornamental Plants, March 17-22, 1996, Herzliya, Israel, lecture
Abstract: In 1995 severe symptoms appeared on Callistephus chinensis Nees., Tagetes patula L., Helichrysum bracteatum Willd., Limonium sinuatum Mill., Gypsophila paniculata L., Bellis perennis L. and some wild plants grown at different locations in Poland. The symptoms included general chlorosis, leaf bronzing or reddening and dieback, abnormal production of secondary shoots, upright growth habit and flower malformation. The flowers were sterile, reduced in size, with virescent or necrotic petals. Histopathological examination of cross-sections showed complete degeneration of the phloem of affected plants. The disease caused hypertrophy and hyperplasia as well as severe necrosis of phloem cells. In the ultra-thin sections of the leaves of diseased plants, an abundance of MLOs was observed in the sieve tubes and phloem cells. Attempts to transmit a causal agent by grafting on Catharanthus roseus L.G. Don succeeded and resulted in the production of very thin etiolated branches in 2 weeks. DNA was isolated from diseased plants and used for amplification of fragments of 16S rRNA gene in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers U3/U5, universal for phytoplasmas. A specific product of length 880 bp was obtained from diseased plants of H. bracteatum, providing the evidence of phytoplasma infection. RFLP analysis of the PCR product was done with restriction enzyme Alu I. The pattern obtained in this experiment corresponded to that pattern calculated for American aster yellows (AAY). It suggests that phytoplasma found in ornamental plants in Poland falls into the A-I phylogenetic cluster.
Database assignments for author(s): Tadeusz Malinowski, Beata Komorowska
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution
Pest and/or beneficial records:
| Beneficial | Pest/Disease/Weed | Crop/Product | Country | Quarant.
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phytoplasma asteris | Gypsophila (crop) | Poland | ||
| Phytoplasma asteris | Tagetes (crop) | Poland | ||
| Phytoplasma asteris | Limonium (crop) | Poland | ||
| Phytoplasma asteris | Helichrysum (crop) | Poland | ||
| Phytoplasma asteris | Bellis (crop) | Poland | ||
| Phytoplasma asteris | Callistephus chinensis | Poland |
