Authors: Jaroslava Přibylová Karel Petrzik Josef Špak
Publish Date: 2008/10/28
Volume: 124, Issue: 1, Pages: 181-185
Abstract
Four Rhododendron hybridum plants from cvs Moravanka and Don Juan all exhibited symptoms of shortened axillary shoots reduced leaves with vein clearing and yellowing undeveloped flowers and general stunting in a rhododendron nursery garden in southern Bohemia in 2007 Electron microscopy examination of ultrathin sections revealed the presence of numerous polymorphic phytoplasmalike bodies in the phloem tissue of leaf midribs and petioles The phytoplasma etiology of this disease was further confirmed by polymerase chain reaction PCR using universal phytoplasma primers Restriction fragment length polymorphism RFLP analysis of amplification products obtained with a R16F2/R16R2 primer pair from all symptomatic plants indicated the presence of phytoplasma from the 16SrVIA subgroup A detailed comparison of the amplified sequences and phylogenetic analysis confirmed that the phytoplasma belonged to the subgroup 16SrVIA clover proliferation phytoplasma group This is the first report of the natural occurrence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma trifolii’ in plants of Rhododendron hybridumThe authors thank Mr Vladimír Němec Garden Services Soběslav for allowing us access to the nursery garden and for providing rhododendron plants We also thank Dr Darina Kubelková and Dr Vlastimila Špaková for technical assistance This research was supported by grants from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic 1QS500510558 and AV0Z50510513
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