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Title: Establishment of a new Phytoplasma subgroup, 16SRI-Q, to accommodate a previously undescribed Phytoplasma found in diseased cherry in Lithuania

Author
item VALIUNAS, D - VILNIUS LITHUANIA
item JOMANTIENE, R - VILNIUS LITHUANIA
item Davis, Robert

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/27/2008
Publication Date: 3/1/2009
Citation: Valiunas, D., Davis, R.E., Jomantiene, R. 2009. Establishment of a new Phytoplasma subgroup, 16SRI-Q, to accommodate a previously undescribed Phytoplasma found in diseased cherry in Lithuania. Journal of Plant Pathology. 91:71-75.

Interpretive Summary: Phytoplasmas are small bacteria that lack a rigid cell wall and are carried from plant to plant by insects. They cause diseases in many plant species, including fruit trees such as cherry. We discovered phytoplasma infection of diseased cherry tree in Lithuania and initiated a study to determine the identity of this phytoplasma. Using procedures of gene analyses involving DNA fingerprinting, we found that the cherry-infecting phytoplasma was previously unknown, and we classified the phytoplasma in a distinct new subgroup (I-Q) within the aster yellows phytoplasma group (group 16SrI). The results of this study expand knowledge of diseases in fruit trees, and they provide base information to aid efforts to reduce the spread of fruit tree diseases. The findings will be of interest to researchers, students of horticulture, plant quarantine agencies, and enterprises involved in the production and growing of fruit trees.

Technical Abstract: Symptoms of shoot proliferation and abnormally small leaves were observed in diseased sour cherry (Cerasus vulgaris Mill., syn. Prunus cerasus L.) affected by cherry little leaf (ChLL) disease on the Neringa peninsula in Lithuania. Amplification of phytoplasma characteristic 16S rDNA from the diseased cherry indicated infection by a phytoplasma. On the basis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and nucleotide sequence analysis of 16S rDNA amplified in the polymerase chain reaction, the ChLL phytoplasma was classified in group 16SrI (aster yellows phytoplasma group), new subgroup 16SrI-Q. Results from phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that ChLL phytoplasma was related to ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ and may represent a distinct phytoplasma lineage.