Morphological and molecular characterisation of Longidorus pauli (Nematoda: Longidoridae), first report from Greece.

Emmanuel A. Tzortzakakis,Juan E. Palomares-Rius,Antonio Archidona-Yuste,Parthenopi Ralli,Ilenia Clavero-Camacho,Pablo Castillo,Carolina Cantalapiedra-Navarrete

doi:10.21307/jofnem-2021-034

Abstract

Sampling for needle nematodes was carried out in a grapevine area in Thessaloniki, North Greece and two nematode species of Longidorus (L. pauli and L. pisi) were collected. Nematodes were extracted from 500 cm3 of soil by modified sieving and decanting method, processed to glycerol and mounted on permanent slides, and subsequently identified morphologically and molecularly. Nematode DNA was extracted from single individuals and PCR assays were conducted to amplify D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA, ITS1 rRNA, and partial mitochondrial coxI regions. Morphology and morphometry data obtained from these populations were consistent with L. pauli and L. pisi identifications. To our knowledge, this is the first report of L. pauli for Greece, and the second world report after the original description from Idleb, Syria, extending the geographical distribution of this species in the Mediterranean Basin.

Highlights

Needle nematodes are polyphagous root ectoparasites of a wide range of economically important plants by directly feeding on root cells
Nematode DNA was extracted from single individuals and PCR assays were conducted to amplify D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA, Internal Transcribed Spacer region 1 (ITS1) rRNA, and partial mitochondrial coxI regions
During a recent nematode sampling from a grapevine area in Northern Greece, two needle nematode populations were detected resembling L. pauli (Lamberti et al, 1999) and L. pisi

Summary

Introduction

Needle nematodes are polyphagous root ectoparasites of a wide range of economically important plants by directly feeding on root cells. The genus Longidorus consists of more than 160 valid species (Archidona-Yuste et al, 2016; Cai et al, 2020), but currently only 12 have been reported from Greece. Seven of these have been molecularly identified Longidorus closelongatus (Stoyanov, 1964), Longidorus cretensis (Tzortzakakis et al, 2001), Longidorus euonymus (Mali and Hooper, 1974), Longidorus iranicus ( = moesicus) (Sturhan and Barooti, 1983), Longidorus orientalis (Loof, 1982), Longidorus pisi ( = latocephalus) (Edward et al, 1964), and Longidorus pseudoelongatus (Altherr, 1976; He et al, 2005, Tzortzakakis et al, 2014, 2017). The objective of the present study was to provide an accurate identification of Longidorus species detected in North Greece by an integrative approach of morphological and molecular characterization by using the D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA, ITS1 rRNA, and partial mitochondrial coxI regions

Objectives

Methods

Results