Plant Disease (2007) 91, 1496-1501

P. Margaria, C. Rosa, C. Marzachì, M. Turina and S. Palmano (2007)
Detection of flavescence dorée phytoplasma in grapevine by reverse-transcription PCR
Plant Disease 91 (11), 1496-1501
Abstract: Flavescence dorée (FD) is the most serious phytoplasma disease of grapevine. This report describes a novel method of detecting FD phytoplasma based on reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on 16S ribosomal RNA (16SrRNA) which will greatly improve mass screening of infected grapevines. A rapid protocol for extracting sap from whole leaves or midveins and successive one-tube amplification by RT-PCR was applied to grapevine samples with or without symptoms collected from different areas of Piedmont (northwestern Italy). Results were compared with those obtained using one of the current diagnostic methods that utilizes nested PCR on phytoplasma DNA-enriched preparations. A Cohen's kappa index of 0.76 indicated a substantial agreement between the two sets of results. The RT-PCR method has the advantage of being a rapid, reliable, and sensitive assay for large-scale screening of grapevines.
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Database assignments for author(s): Sabrina Palmano, Massimo Turina, Paolo Margaria, Cristina Marzachi

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Phytoplasma vitis	Grapevine (Vitis)	Italy