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Title: FIRST REPORT OF A GROUP 16SRI, SUBGROUP B, PHYTOPLASMA IN DISEASED EPILOBIUM HIRSUTUM IN THE REGION OF TALLIN, ESTONIA

Author
item ALMINAITE, A - VILNIUS LITHUANIA
item Davis, Robert
item VALIUNAS, D - VILNIUS LITHUANIA
item JOMANTIENE, RASA - VILNIUS LITHUANIA

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/28/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Phytoplasmas are minute cell wall-less bacteria that cause diseases of economically important plants and that are found in weed species that serve as reservoirs of the pathogens for infection of agricultural crops. In this communication, we report detection and identification of a previously unknown phytoplasma that we discovered in a widespread weed plant species (Epilobium hirsutum L., family Onagraceae) in Estonia. On the basis of molecular investigation of ribosomal RNA gene sequences, we classified the phytoplasma, termed epilobium phyllody phytoplasma, in subgroup B (aster yellows phytoplasma subgroup) of group 16SrI. The results of this study document the first detection of a phytoplasma in the northern Baltic region. The findings will aid epidemiologists and plant pathologists in efforts to understand disease outbreaks in agriculturally important plants and in plants in the natural environment.

Technical Abstract: Symptoms of phyllody of flowers and general plant yellowing, indicating possible phytoplasma infection, were observed in diseased plants of hairy willow-weed (Epilobium hirsutum L., family Onagraceae) growing in a meadow of Harku village near Tallin, Estonia. Sequences of ribosomal (r) RNA genes were amplified in polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) primed by phytoplasma-universal primer pairs P1/P7 and F2n/R2, respectively. These data indicated that the diseased E. hirsutum plants were infected by a phytoplasma, termed epilobium phyllody (EpPh) phytoplasma. The 16S rDNA amplified in PCRs primed by primer pair F2n/R2 was subjected to RFLP analysis. On the basis of collective RFLP profiles, EpPh phytoplasma was classified in group 16SrI (aster yellows phytoplasma group), subgroup B (aster yellows phytoplasma subgroup). The 1.8 kbp rDNA product of PCR primed by primer pair P1/P7 was cloned in Escherichia coli, sequenced, and the sequence was deposited in the GenBank database under Accession no. AY101386. This nucleotide sequence -- which includes 16S rDNA, 16S-23S intergenic spacer region, and the 5'-end of 23S rDNA -- shared 99.8% sequence similarity with rDNA (Acc. no. AF322644) of aster yellows AY1 phytoplasma (member of group 16SrI, subgroup B). The rDNA of EpPh phytoplasma also shared high sequence similarity (99.9%) with that of operons rrnA (Acc. no. AY102274) and rrnB (Acc. no. AY102273) from valeriana yellows (ValY) phytoplasma, a phytoplasma infecting plants in Lithuania and found to exhibit rRNA interoperon sequence heterogeneity. This work is the first to reveal the occurrence of a plant pathogenic mollicute in the northern Baltic region.