Abstract
During a survey performed in sapota orchards of India, from 2015 to 2018, symptoms of phyllody, little leaf, flat stem and witches’ broom were observed in three states: Karnataka, Kerala and Tripura. The association of phytoplasmas was confirmed in all the symptomatic sapota samples by using nested PCR specific primers (P1/P7, R16F2n/R16R2 and 3Far/3Rev) with amplification of fragments of ~ 1.25 kb and ~ 1.3 kb. Association of three phytoplasma groups, aster yellows with flat stem from Tripura (Lembucherra), clover proliferation with phyllody symptoms at Karnataka (Bengaluru) and bermuda grass white leaf with flat stem and little leaf from Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram) and Tripura (Cocotilla) were confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison analysis. Virtual RFLP analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences using pDRAW32 further classified the sapota phytoplasma isolates into 16SrI-B, 16SrVI-D and 16SrXIV-A subgroups. This is the first report on identification of three phytoplasma groups in sapota in world.
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Acknowledgements
The authors also wish to express sincere thanks to Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for financial assistance through North Eastern Biotechnology Programme Management research project (BT/PR17033/NER/95/394/2015).
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Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (BT/PR17033/NER/95/394/2015).
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GPR: helped in preparing and editing of the ms and analyzing sequence data. MP did the analysis of sequences for the identification of phytoplasma strain. SM did the analytical work for processing of samples for DNA extraction, PCR assays and sequence submission. JMJ helped in survey, sample collections and recording incidence of the disease at Kerala. PD helped revising manuscript and sample collection. AB helped in survey and recording incidence of the disease in Tripura. SC Das helped in survey and recording incidence of the disease in different Tripura districts and districts.
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Rao, G.P., Madhupriya, Mitra, S. et al. Genetic diversity of phytoplasma strains inducing phyllody, flat stem and witches’ broom symptoms in Manilkara zapota in India. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 26, 1685–1693 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-020-00854-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-020-00854-7