An Epidemic of Almond Witches'-broom in Lebanon: Classification and Phylogenetic Relationships of the Associated Phytoplasma

Plant Disease
Yusuf Abou-JawdahIng-Ming Lee

Abstract

An epidemic of almond witches'-broom has devastated almond production in Lebanon. Thousands of almond trees have died over the past 10 years due to the rapid spread of the disease. The symptoms, which include early flowering, stunted growth, leaf rosetting, dieback, off-season growth, proliferation of slender shoots, and witches'-brooms arising mainly from the main trunk and roots, resemble those caused by phytoplasmal infections. For the detection of the putative causal agent, nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using universal primers (P1/P7, R16mF2/R16mR1, and R16F2n/R16R2) commonly used for the specific diagnosis of plant pathogenic phytoplasmas. Phytoplasmas were readily detected from infected trees with witches'-broom symptoms collected from three major almond growing regions in Lebanon. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of PCR products amplified by the primer pair R16F2n/R16R2 revealed that the phytoplasma associated with infected almonds is similar to, but distinct from, members of the pigeon pea witches'-broom phytoplasma group (16SrIX). A new subgroup, 16SrIX-B, was designated. Sequencing of the amplified products of the phytoplasma 16S rRNA gene indicated that almond witches'-b...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 17, 2003·International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology·Eric VerdinMonique Garnier
Sep 4, 2007·International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology·M MartiniR Osler
Jun 3, 2017·Genome Announcements·Yingzhi ZhuGuohui Zhou
Apr 4, 2021·Biology·Chamran HemmatiAbdullah M Al-Sadi

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