In 2012, yellowing of camellias was observed in Tai'an in Shandong province, China. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed phytoplasma in the phloem sieve tube elements of symptomatic plants. A specific fragment of phytoplasma 16S rRNA gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the universal phytoplasma primers P1/P7 followed by R16F2n/R16R2. Sequence and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses allowed us to classify the detected phytoplasma into the elm yellows (EY) group (16SrV), subgroup 16SrV-B. Sequence analyses of the ribosomal protein (rp) gene confirmed a close relationship with phytoplasmas belonging to the rpV-C subgroup. Thus, the phytoplasma associated with yellows disease in camellia, designated as 'CY', is a member of the 16SrV-B subgroup. This is the first report of phytoplasma associated with camellia.
Euonymus bungeanus plants exhibiting symptoms of abnormal branches, small leaves and phyllody, which is indicative of E. bungeanus witches' broom (EbWB) disease, have recently been found in Beijing, China. A phytoplasma from symptomatic E. bungeanus plants was identified by 16S rRNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the phytoplasma-specific universal primer pair R16mF2/R16mR1. Inoculation of healthyE. bungeanus plants by grafting with diseased scions was also performed. The rp and secY genes of the EbWB phytoplasma were cloned and sequenced as was the 16S rRNA gene. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA, rp and secY genes indicated that the phytoplasma associated with E. bungeanus belongs to the 16SrV-B, rpV-C and secY-C subgroup, the same subgroup as the jujube witches' broom (JWB) phytoplasma that is widely distributed among jujube trees in China. Comparative analyses based on virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) showed that the EbWB phytoplasma is more closely related to another 16SrV-B subgroup strain: RPWB (Robinia pseudoacacia witches' broom). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a witches' broom phytoplasma in E. bungeanus in China, and the findings add a new cultivated plant species to the already broad natural host range of 16SrV-B subgroup phytoplasmas.
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