‘Candidatus Phytoplasma’ species detection in coconuts in Cuba

Abstract

Coconut lethal yellowing (LY) is the single most important disease presently affecting the coconut production worldwide. Symptomatic and asymptomatic coconut plants were sampled in some selected areas to verify the identity of phytoplasmas associated with LY in Cuba. Diverse phytoplasma ribosomal groups were detected in the samples from symptomatic palms such as 16SrXII, 16SrVII, and 16SrI. In several other palms 16SrIV-A subgroup phytoplasmas were identified, in the groEL gene the only positive plant from Pilon resulted diverse from the others and identical to the 16SrIV-A strains detected in Jamaica LY infected coconut palms. This is the first record of occurrence of 16SrI, -VII and-XII groups in coconut palms in Cuba.