Plant Disease (2017) 101, 1627-1632

Barbara Geric Stare, Polona Strajnar, Nik Susic, Gregor Urek and Sasa Sirca (2017)
Reported populations of Meloidogyne ethiopica in Europe identified as Meloidogyne luci
Plant Disease 101 (9), 1627-1632
Abstract: The tropical group of root-knot nematodes (RKN) including Meloidogyne ethiopica and M. luci is a highly polyphagus and damaging group of agricultural pests. M. ethiopica has been detected in several European countries (Slovenia, Italy, Greece) and also in Turkey. However, a description of a new sister species M. luci calls for reclassification of all European and Turkish M. ethiopica populations reported up to date as M. luci. Accurate identification can be accomplished through analysis of the esterase isozyme pattern, which is the most distinguishing character between the two otherwise very similar species. Both species display a three banded esterase pattern where the upper band is slightly shifted between the two species. In addition, molecular characterization of M. ethiopica and M. luci populations revealed that the ITS, SSU, and LSU of the rDNA regions are not appropriate markers for studying relationships among the tropical group of RKNs. However, the COII/lRNA region on mtDNA proved to be very useful for analyzing the phylogenetic relationship of these very closely related species/populations. Mitochondrial sequences with low levels of heteroplasmy allowed clustering of all M. luci populations in a monophyletic clade with a clear separation of this recently described species from M. ethiopica. At the same time, a very close relationship between M. ethiopica and M. luci was confirmed again.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Polona Strajnar, Sasa Sirca, Gregor Urek

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

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Meloidogyne ethiopica
	Meloidogyne luci		Greece
	Meloidogyne luci		Italy
	Meloidogyne luci		Slovenia
	Meloidogyne luci		Turkey