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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #321278
Title: Cauliflower is a new host of a subgroup 16SrVII-B phytoplasma associated with stunting disease

Author
item PEREIRA, T - Universidad De Sao Paulo
item BANZATO, T - Universidad De Sao Paulo
item BEDENDO, I - Universidad De Sao Paulo
item Dally, Ellen
item Davis, Robert

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/5/2015
Publication Date: 5/1/2016
Citation: Pereira, T.B., Banzato, T.C., Bedendo, I.P., Dally, E.L., Davis, R.E. 2016. Cauliflower is a new host of a subgroup 16SrVII-B phytoplasma associated with stunting disease. Plant Disease. 100:1007. doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-15-1110-PDN.

Interpretive Summary: Minute, specialized bacteria called phytoplasmas cause diseases in crop plants around the world. In order to design methods to reduce the spread of crop diseases caused by phytoplasmas, it is important to know whether or not a given diseased plant is infected by a phytoplasma, and to learn what type of phytoplasma is causing the disease. In this work, we investigated cauliflower plants that were diseased in Brazil. We discovered that the diseased plants contained DNA from a phytoplasma, and by analyzing the DNA, we learned that the phytoplasma was related to a phytoplasma that causes disease in various plants in Brazil, and in ash trees in North America. The results of this work will make it possible for scientists to figure out how this disease causing phytoplasma is spread, learn whether it threatens food or other crop plants, and to design methods to reduce or prevent its spread.

Technical Abstract: Cauliflower stunt has occurred with high levels of incidence and provoked significant yield reduction in Brazilian crops. Phytoplasmas belonging to the subgroups 16SrIII-J and 16SrXV-A were previously reported in association with the disease. In 2014, plants with typical symptoms of the disease were newly sampled in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. We found that the disase was caused by a phytoplasma belonging to phytoplasma subgroup 16SrVII-B. The phytoplasma was designated CfS-Br10, and its 16S rDNA sequence was deposited in the GenBank database (Accession number KR270802). Our findings revealed a distinct phytoplasma in association with cauliflower stunt, in addition to the two different phytoplasmas previously described for this pathosystem.