Abstract
Qassim region is one of the main agricultural areas in Saudi Arabia. During 2015, ornamental, landscape and bindweed plants showing virescence; yellowing, phyllody, witches’ broom, proliferation, fasciation, short internode, and dieback symptoms were observed in this region. To confirm the presence of phytoplasmas, DNA extracted from symptomatic and asymptomatic plants was used to amplify 16S rRNA-encoding gene through direct and nested PCR assays using P1/P7, R16F2n/R16R2 and fU5/rU3 primers. Phytoplasma DNA was detected in all symptomatic plants collected. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed to identify the phytoplasmas detected. BLAST comparison indicated that the phytoplasmas showed more than 99.2% identity with phytoplasmas in 16SrII group. Three phytoplasma strains from Albizia and periwinkle shared 100% identity with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia’, subgroup 16SrII-B, while phytoplasmas affecting Parkinsonia aculeate, Gazania rigens, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Calendula officinalis, Plectranthus scutellarioides, Convolvulus arvensis, Zinnia Magellan, Conocarpus lanceolatus and Catharanthus roseus were identical to papaya yellow crinkle, classified in the 16SrII-D subgroup.
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