Aster yellows (AY) phytoplasmas (Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris) are associated with a number of plant diseases throughout the world. Several insect vectors are responsible for spreading AY diseases resulting in wide distribution and low host specificity. Because the role of sucking insects as vectors of phytoplasmas is widely documented, and the citrus flatid planthopper Metcalfa pruinosa is a phloem feeder, it has been incriminated as a possible vector of phytoplasmas. However, its ability to transfer phytoplasma has not been confirmed. The present work shows that M. pruinosa (Hemiptera: Flatidae), a polyphagous planthopper, is able to vector Ca. P. asteris to French marigold (Tagetes patula). Transmission experiments were conducted in 2017 and 2018 in central Hungary by two approaches: (a) AY‐infected M. pruinosa were collected from an area with severe incidence of the disease on T. patula and caged on test plants for an inoculation‐access period of 2 weeks, and (b) presumably phytoplasma‐free insects were collected from apparently healthy grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) and fed on AY‐infected T. patula plants for 2 weeks prior to being caged on test plants. AY disease symptoms developed on 4 out of 10 and 10 out of 15 test plants, respectively. All phytoplasma‐positive marigold and M. pruinosa samples showed identical RFLP patterns and shared 100% 16S rDNA sequence identity with each other and with the aster yellows phytoplasma strain AJ33 (GenBank accession number MK992774). These results indicated that the phytoplasma belonged to the phytoplasma subgroup 16SrI‐B Ca. P. asteris. Therefore, the work presented here provides experimental evidence that M. pruinosa is a vector of a 16SrI‐B subgroup phytoplasma to T. patula.

中文翻译：

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卵形飞虱Metcalfa pruinosa将紫苑植物质体传播到法国万寿菊的生物和分子证据

翠菊黄色（AY）植物原浆体（Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris）与全世界许多植物病害相关。几种昆虫媒介负责传播AY疾病，导致广泛分布和低宿主特异性。由于吸吮昆虫作为植物原虫载体的作用已得到广泛的文献记载，而柑橘类扁平飞虱Metcalfa pruinosa是韧皮部饲养者，因此被认为是可能的植物原虫载体。但是，尚未证实其转移植物原质的能力。本工作表明，M.灰叶（半翅目：Flatidae），一个多食性稻飞虱，能够矢量钙。P. asteris至法国万寿菊（Tagetes patula）。于2017年和2018年在匈牙利中部通过两种方法进行了传播实验：（a）感染AY的M. pruinosa是从一种在T. patula上发病率高的地区收集的，并关在测试植物的笼罩中进行接种2周内，（b）从看似健康的葡萄树（Vitis vinifera L.）收集了大概无植物原虫的昆虫，并在AY感染的T. patula植物上饲养了2周，然后关在了测试植物上。AY病症状分别在十个测试植物中的四分之一和十五个测试植物中的十个中发展。所有质体阳性的万寿菊和普氏分支杆菌样品显示出相同的RFLP模式，并且彼此之间以及与翠黄植物质浆菌株AJ33（GenBank登录号MK992774）共享100％的16S rDNA序列同一性。这些结果表明，所述植原属于子组植原16SrI-B的Ca。紫苑。因此，工作中提出这里提供了实验证据表明，M.灰叶是16SrI-B亚组植到的向量孔雀草。