Phytoparasitica (2013) 41, 539-543

Chinmay Biswas, Piyali Dey, Subrata Satpathy, Manoj Kumar, Pratik Satya and B.S. Mahapatra (2013)
Molecular identification of a Candidatus phytoplasma (Group16SrV-D) coding partial uvrB gene and degV gene on a new host - mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa) - with phyllody and reddening of leaves in India
Phytoparasitica 41 (5), 539-543
Abstract: Mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is an important bast fiber crop. In August 2011, there was an outbreak of a phytoplasma-like disease on H. sabdariffa in different villages of the northern coastal mesta-growing region of Andhra Pradesh, India, covering mainly two districts - Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram. The infected plants showed characteristic symptoms such as phyllody and reddening of leaves. PCR with P1/P7 universal primer pair of 16 S rDNA yielded amplicons of 1850 bp from all symptomatic mesta leaf samples similar to samples of brinjal little leaf (phytoplasma positive reference control). However, asymptomatic samples were not amplified. Multiplex nested-PCR showed simultaneous amplification of DNA fragments with phytoplasma specific primers, viz., P1/P7 universal primer pair of 16 S rDNA, nested primer pair R16F2n/R2, uvrB and DegV gene-specific uvrB-degVF/R primer generating amplicons of 1850 bp, 1200 bp and 1023bp, respectively. However, SecY-map gene specific primer SecY-mapF/R was not amplified. The 1023 bp nucleotide sequence of uvrB and DegV gene of the phytoplasma was deposited in the GenBank (NCBI) with the accession no. JX975061. NCBI BLASTn analysis of the 1023 bp products showed that the phytoplasma strain belonged to elm yellows group (16SrV-D). This is the first report that Hibiscus sabdariffa is infected by a phytoplasma and we named it mesta phyllody disease (MPD).
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Chinmay Biswas

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.
	16SrV phytoplasma group	Hibiscus (crop)	India