TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular characterization of group 16SrI and 16SrIII phytoplasmas associated with loofah witches’ broom disease in Sinaloa, Mexico
AU - Santos-Cervantes, María Elena
AU - Camacho-Bojórquez, Jesús Enrique
AU - Escobedo-Rivera, Ulises Rosario
AU - Méndez-Lozano, Jesús
AU - Leyva-López, Norma Elena
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Canadian Phytopathological Society.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Loofah [Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.] is grown in some regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas. This vegetable is well known for its high nutritional and medicinal value. Loofah plants showing typical symptoms of phytoplasma infection, such as witches’ broom, fruit deformation, flower proliferation and phyllody were observed in a commercial field in Sinaloa, Mexico, in January 2015. Nineteen symptomatic loofah plants and seven asymptomatic weeds (Helianthus annuus, Sarcostemma sp., Chenopodium sp., Amaranthus palmeri, Rumex sp., Ambrosia sp., and Raphanus sp.) growing nearby were collected and analyzed by phytoplasma-specific nested PCR. Phytoplasmas were detected in 79% of symptomatic loofah plants and in two of the seven weeds. Conventional and virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses of the 16S rRNA-encoding gene sequences indicated the presence of strains of the 16SrIII and 16SrI phytoplasma groups in loofah, which occurred as both single and mixed infections. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed four new phytoplasma strains associated with loofah diseases, two ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’-related strains (16SrI-AG and 16SrI-AH), and two ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’-related strains (16SrIII-AA, and 16SrIII-AB). Furthermore, phytoplasmas belonging to groups 16SrI and 16SrIII also were identified in the weeds H. annuus and A. palmeri, respectively; 16SrIII-AC represents a new phytoplasma subgroup described in A. palmeri in Sinaloa. To our knowledge, this is the first report of loofah disease associated with phytoplasmas belonging to the 16SrI and 16SrIII groups in Mexico.
AB - Loofah [Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.] is grown in some regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas. This vegetable is well known for its high nutritional and medicinal value. Loofah plants showing typical symptoms of phytoplasma infection, such as witches’ broom, fruit deformation, flower proliferation and phyllody were observed in a commercial field in Sinaloa, Mexico, in January 2015. Nineteen symptomatic loofah plants and seven asymptomatic weeds (Helianthus annuus, Sarcostemma sp., Chenopodium sp., Amaranthus palmeri, Rumex sp., Ambrosia sp., and Raphanus sp.) growing nearby were collected and analyzed by phytoplasma-specific nested PCR. Phytoplasmas were detected in 79% of symptomatic loofah plants and in two of the seven weeds. Conventional and virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses of the 16S rRNA-encoding gene sequences indicated the presence of strains of the 16SrIII and 16SrI phytoplasma groups in loofah, which occurred as both single and mixed infections. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed four new phytoplasma strains associated with loofah diseases, two ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’-related strains (16SrI-AG and 16SrI-AH), and two ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’-related strains (16SrIII-AA, and 16SrIII-AB). Furthermore, phytoplasmas belonging to groups 16SrI and 16SrIII also were identified in the weeds H. annuus and A. palmeri, respectively; 16SrIII-AC represents a new phytoplasma subgroup described in A. palmeri in Sinaloa. To our knowledge, this is the first report of loofah disease associated with phytoplasmas belonging to the 16SrI and 16SrIII groups in Mexico.
KW - 16SrI
KW - 16SrIII
KW - Luffa acutangula
KW - phytoplasma classification
KW - witches’ broom disease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091318224&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07060661.2020.1817794
DO - 10.1080/07060661.2020.1817794
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:85091318224
SN - 0706-0661
VL - 43
SP - 366
EP - 373
JO - Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology
JF - Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology
IS - 3
ER -