First report of a phytoplasma associated with Bermuda grass white leaf disease in Kenya

The association of phytoplasma was investigated in symptomatic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), eggplant (Solanum melongen L.), mallow (Malva spp.) and Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon L.) plants exhibiting witches’ broom and white leaf diseases, respectively. Total DNA was extracted from tomato (n=3), eggplant (n=2), mallow (n=2) and Bermuda grass (n=8) samples. Direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using P1/P7 primer set, then PCR products were sequenced. Sequences obtained from tomato, eggplant and mallow shared 99% maximum nucleotide identity with phytoplasma belonging to subgroup 16SrII-D, and resulted therefore ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma australasia’-related. Sequences obtained from Bermuda grass showed 100% maximum nucleotide identity to 16SrXIV-A subgroup and were ‘Ca. P. cynodontis’-related. The study presents the first molecular confirmation and sequence data of presence of ‘Ca. P. australasia’ and ‘Ca. P. cynodontis’ in Iraq.

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“…Kenya (Obura et al 2010) Italy, Albania and Serbia (Mitrović et al 2015) and Saudi Arabia (Omar 2016) .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular detection of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma australasia’ and ‘Ca. P. cynodontis’ in Iraq

Alkuwaiti

Kareem

Sabier

2017

Agriculture (Pol'nohospodárstvo)

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“…Bermuda grasses establish rapidly and spread by vegetative propagules by both stolons and rhizomes (Brosnan & Deputy 2008). Bermuda grass white leaf (BGWL), first described in Taiwan, is a destructive phytoplasmal disease of Bermuda grass caused by the phytoplasma group (16SrXIV) and characterized by whitening of the leaves and shortening of the stolons (Chen et al 1972;Obura et al 2010). BGWL disease is reported in many countries including Singapore (Koh et al 2008), Italy (Marcone & Ragozzino 1997), Iran (Salehi et al 2009), Cuba (Arocha et al 2005), Australia (Padovan et al 1999;Tran-Nguyen et al 2000), Turkey (Çağlar et al 2013), Sudan (Dafalla & Cousin 1988), Thailand (Sunpapao 2014), India (Rao et al 2007;Snehi et al 2008;Kumar et al 2015), Malaysia (Nejat et al 2009;Naderali et al 2013), Myanmar (Win et al 2013), Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda (Asudi et al 2015), and Serbia and Albania (Mitrović et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of ‘CandidatusPhytoplasma cynodontis’ with Bermuda grass white leaf disease and its new hosts in Qassim province, Saudi Arabia

Omar

2016

Journal of Plant Interactions

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Typical symptoms of phytoplasma such as whitening of the leaves, shortening of the stolons on Bermuda grass, variegated leaves, yellows, stunting, little leaves and yellows on Giant reed, Cooba and sand olive shrub were observed in Qassim province, Saudi Arabia, during the autumn season of 2015. When tested for phytoplasma by universal primers P1/P7 followed by R16mF2/R16mR2, products of approximately 1400 bp (as expected) were amplified from 16 plants with symptoms but not from symptomless plants. Based on sequencing, phylogenetic analysis and virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns of the 16S rDNA F2nR2 fragments of seven Qassim phytoplasma isolates, bermuda grass isolates 170, 175 and 177, giant reed isolate 180, sand olive isolates 181 and 182 and cooba isolate 185, the associated phytoplasma was identified as a member of 'Candidatus Phytoplasma cynodontis' which belong to the 16SrXIV-A subgroup. The 16S rDNA gene sequences of seven Qassim phytoplasma isolates exhibited over 99.2% identity with members of 'Ca. Phytoplasma cynodontis' group of phytoplasmas. This is the first report of characterization of 'Ca. phytoplasma cynodonties' (16SrXIV) associated with Cynodon dactylon in Saudi Arabia and its new hosts, Dodonaea angustifolia, Arundo donax and Acacia salicia.

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“…There was also 98% similarity with Bermuda grass white leaf isolates BGWL 1SL and PG as well as other several phytoplasma strains in group 16SrXIV from the NCBI database (Figure 3). BGWL disease was first reported in Bermuda grass (C. dactylon) in Kenya in 2010 [13]. A BLAST search carried out on the above sequences revealed that there was 98-100% sequence similarity with the Ns (Napier grass stunt) phytoplasma isolate Mbita 2 (accession no.…”

Section: Sequence Homology and Phylogenetic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The PCR reaction mixture was gently vortexed for 10 seconds to mix and 22.25 μL of the mixture added to PCR tubes containing 1.0 μL of each template. A 35 cycle PCR was conducted using P1/P6 primer pair in a PTC-100® Thermal cycler (MJ Research, Incorporated, Lincoln Street, Massachusetts, USA) as follows; denaturation of DNA at 94ºC for 2 minutes for 1 cycle, annealing of the primers at 52ºC for 2 minutes for the first reaction and 72ºC for 3 minutes for the subsequent reactions and elongation reaction at 72ºC for 10 minutes for 1 cycle [11][12][13]. The second amplification of the primary PCR products of the 16S rDNA fragment was carried out using a reaction mixture containing NapF/NapR primer pair (Inqaba BiotecTM).…”

Section: Dna Extraction and Pcr Amplificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Determination and Characterization of Phytoplasma 16S rRNA Gene in Selected Wild Grasses from Western Kenya

CAO¹

2015

J Plant Pathol Microbiol

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Napier grass (Pennisetum purpuruem) production for zero grazing systems has been reduced to rates of up to 90% in many smallholder fields by the Napier stunt (Ns) disease caused by phytoplasma sub-group 16SrXI in western Kenya. It is hypothesized that several other wild grasses in Kenya could be infected by phytoplasmas that would otherwise pose a significant threat to Napier, other important feeds and food crops. This study therefore sought to detect and identify phytoplasma strains infecting wild grasses in western Kenya using 16S ribosomal RNA (ribonucleic acid) gene as well as identify wild grass species hosting phytoplasmas in 646 wild grass samples that were collected in October 2011 and January 2012 during a random crossectional survey conducted in Bungoma and Busia counties of western Kenya. DNA was extracted and nested polymerase reaction (nPCR) used to detect phytoplasmas. Two sub-groups of phytoplasmas were detected in eight grass species observed to grow near infected Napier fields. Only one of the two phytoplasmas reported was related to the Ns phytoplasma. There was a strong association between proportions of phytoplasma infection and the grass species collected (p = 0.001). C. dactylon, D. scalarum, B. brizantha, poverty grass and P. maximum had high proportions of infection and were abundantly distributed in western Kenya hence considered wild phytoplasma hosts. E. indica and C. ciliaris were scarcely distributed and had low infection rates. There was statistically significant difference in proportions of infection per location of survey (p = 0.001). Phytoplasma subgroups 16SrXI and 16SrXIV were the only phytoplasma genotypes distributed among wild grasses in western Kenya. Phytoplasma subgroup 16SrXIV predominantly infects only C. dactylon and B. brizantha grasses while phytoplasma subgroup 16SrXI is broad spectrum and infects a large number of wild grasses. In general, there is a diversity of wild grasses hosting phytoplasmas in western Kenya. These host grasses may be the reason for the high rates observed in the spread of Ns disease in western Kenya by acting as reservoirs for Ns phytoplasma.

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First report of a phytoplasma associated with Bermuda grass white leaf disease in Kenya

Cited by 10 publications

References 4 publications

Molecular detection of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma australasia’ and ‘Ca. P. cynodontis’ in Iraq

Molecular detection of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma australasia’ and ‘Ca. P. cynodontis’ in Iraq

Association of ‘CandidatusPhytoplasma cynodontis’ with Bermuda grass white leaf disease and its new hosts in Qassim province, Saudi Arabia

Molecular Determination and Characterization of Phytoplasma 16S rRNA Gene in Selected Wild Grasses from Western Kenya

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