Phytoplasma associated with shoot proliferation in begonia

Abstract

Begonia is a very appreciated genus of ornamental plants, of economic relevancy, having species of flowers and foliage. In commercial croppings, plants exhibiting characteristic symptoms of phytoplasma infection have been observed, such as shoot proliferation, reduced plant, size small leaves and flowers, and phyllody. Leaves were sampled and total DNA was extracted to be used in nested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), in order to detect and identify an expected phytoplasma. The results confirmed consistently the presence of a phytoplasma associated with symptomatic plants through the amplification of a typical genomic fragment of 1.2 kb by using the universal primers R16mF2/mR1 and R16F2n/R2. The use of specific primers R16(III)F2/R1 allowed to identify the phytoplasma detected as a representative of the group 16SrIII. This information is very expressive, because different diseases caused by fungus, bacteria, virus and nematodes have been reported for begonia, however, reports have not been found for begonia diseases associated with phytoplasmas. Key words: Mollicutes, yellows, phytopathogenic prokaryotes ASSOCIAÇÃO DE FITOPLASMA AO SUPERBROTAMENTO DE BEGÔNIARESUMO: Begônia é um gênero muito apreciado de plantas ornamentais, de relevância econômica, compreendendo espécies de flores e de folhagem. Em cultivo comercial foram observadas plantas apresentando sintomas característicos de infecção por fitoplasma, entre eles superbrotamento de ramos, redução no porte da planta, folhas e flores pequenas e filodia. A partir de amostras foliares foi feita extração de DNA para ser usado em duplo Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), visando 'a detecção de fitoplasma em tecido doente e a sua identificação ao nível de grupo de classificação. Os testes revelaram consistemente a associação de fitoplasma com os sintomas da doença, através da amplificação de um fragmento genômico típico de 1,2kb para os iniciadores universais R16mF2/mR1 e R16F2n/R2, usados na reação de PCR. O emprego de iniciadores específicos R16(III)F2/R1 permitiu identificar o fitoplasma detectado como um representante do grupo 16SrIII. Este é um resultado expressivo, pois diversas doenças causadas por fungos, bactérias, vírus e nematóides têm sido relatadas para begônia, no entanto, não têm sido encontrados relatos para doenças de begônia associadas a fitoplasmas.

Cauliflower stunt associated with a phytoplasma of subgroup 16SrIII-J and the spatial pattern of disease

“…Although phytoplasmas of the 16SrI (aster yellows) group have frequently been found in plants in countries of the Northern hemisphere that (Montano et al 2006), and other species such as China tree (Duarte et al 2009), begonia (Ribeiro et al 2006), and Celosia argentea and Celosia spicata (Eckstein et al 2012).…”

Plant, Soil and Microbes

“…A new phytoplasma was identifi ed as infecting Cassia italica in Oman(Al-Saady et al 2008 ) Siddique ( 2006 ). reported phyllody on Gerbera jamesonii in Australia, whileRibeiro et al ( 2006 ) reported shoot proliferation in Begonia in Brazil Jones and Arocha ( 2006 ). reported yellowing and littleleaf disease on Veronica scutellata in the United Kingdom.Al-Zadjali et al( 2007 )identifi ed and molecularly characterized the phytoplasma associated with Jasminum sambac witches' broom in Oman Sobolev et al ( 2007 ).…”