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Title: MOLECULAR EVIDENCE FOR THE PRESENCE OF A MILKWEED YELLOWS-RELATED PHYTOPLASMA IN BLUEBERRY

Author
item VALIUNAS, D - VILNIUS LITHUANIA
item ALMINAITE, A - VILNIUS LITHUANIA
item Davis, Robert
item Maas, John
item JOMANTIENE, R - VILNIUS LITHUANIA

Submitted to: Plant Pathology European Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A new phytoplasma lineage was identified in wild European blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) exhibiting symptoms of shoot proliferation (witches' broom) and chlorosis. Samples of diseased plants were collected in forests of Lithuania. On the basis of RFLP and nucleotide sequence analyses of 16S rDNA, the blueberry proliferation (BBP) phytoplasma was classified in group 16SrIII (X-disease phytoplasma group), subgroup F (III-F, milkweed yellows phytoplasma subgroup). BBP phytoplasma is the second of only two known members of subgroup III-F. The other phytoplasma in this subgroup is milkweed yellows phytoplasma (MW1), previously reported in the United States. Results from phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences are consistent with the concept that the BBP phytoplasma represents a distinct new phytoplasma lineage. The close relationship of BBP and MW1 phytoplasmas, as indicated by the RFLP and phylogenetic analyses, is consistent with their possible status as strains of the same species. These observations raise the question of whether or not MW1 phytoplasma could infect blueberry in North America. Similarly, one may question whether BBP phytoplasma may infect cultivated blueberry in Europe. The insect vector(s) that transmit MW1 in the United States and BBP in Lithuania are unknown.