Plant Pathology (1996) 45, 857-863

C. Marcone, A. Ragozzino and E. Seemüller (1996)
Association of phytoplasmas with the decline of European hazel in southern Italy
Plant Pathology 45 (5), 857-863
Abstract: In the Campania region of southern Italy, commercial orchards of European hazel (Corylus avellana) are severely affected by yellowing and decline. To determine whether phytoplasmas are associated with the disorder, stem samples from diseased trees were examined using polymerase chain reaction, assays. No visible products were obtained by amplification of sample DNA with universal and group-specific phytoplasma primers. However, when the products obtained with universal primers were re-amplified with nested primers that were specific for the fruit tree phytoplasmas of the apple proliferation group, most samples tested positively. Restriction site analysis revealed that the trees were infected with the apple proliferation, pear decline, and European stone fruit yellows phytoplasmas in about the same proportion. Some of the trees were doubly infected with one of the fruit tree phytoplasmas and the aster yellows agent. Most of the infected trees were also identified by hybridization of the products obtained in the initial amplification with suitable oligonucleotide probes.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Carmine Marcone

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.
	Phytoplasma prunorum	Hazelnut (Corylus)	Italy
	Phytoplasma mali	Hazelnut (Corylus)	Italy
	Phytoplasma pyri	Hazelnut (Corylus)	Italy