Articles
DETECTION OF PHYTOPLASMA INFECTION IN LILIUM SP. PLANTS
Article number
568_34
Pages
227 – 236
Language
English
Abstract
During inspection of 29 lily plantations under covers, plants with several symptoms were observed.
They included severe leaf chlorosis or yellowing, leaf necrosis and malformation as well as dropping and abortion of the flower bud.
Some affected lilies did not show symptoms except from leaf chlorosis, flower bud deficiency or reduced number of flowers with some malformation.
The roots of symptomatic plants were also reduced and showed damage.
Symptoms were noted on all inspected farms.
The percentage of affected plants varied depending on the year, farm and cultivar.
These symptoms were observed on large scale mainly in Oriental lily hybrids obtained from imported bulbs, in summer as well as in winter production.
The results of three years observation revealed that most of the lily plants Casablanca showing severe symptoms of natural infection in 1997 were symptomless in the following years.
The presence of phytoplasmas in both symptomatic and healthy-looking plants of three groups of Lilium sp. was demonstrated using polymerase chain reaction assays with universal (rA/fA, rU3/fU5 and R16R2/F2) and specific (R16(I)F1/R1) primer pairs amplifying phytoplasma 16S rDNA regions.
RFLP analysis of PCR products from different plants by digestion with enzymes Alu I, Mse I and Rsa I produced the same restriction profiles with each of these enzymes.
The restriction profiles from all these plants corresponded to that of aster yellows phytoplasma subgroup I-B. The aster yellows phytoplasma was detected in symptomatic as well as recovered and symptomless plants of L. longiflorum, Oriental and Asiatic lily hybrids.
The presence of phytoplasma with identical profiles was also detected in indicator plants of Catharanthus roseus experimentally infected by grafting with scions from lilies.
90% of tested lilies were also naturally infected with lily symptomless virus (LSV) alone, or with both LSV and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV).
They included severe leaf chlorosis or yellowing, leaf necrosis and malformation as well as dropping and abortion of the flower bud.
Some affected lilies did not show symptoms except from leaf chlorosis, flower bud deficiency or reduced number of flowers with some malformation.
The roots of symptomatic plants were also reduced and showed damage.
Symptoms were noted on all inspected farms.
The percentage of affected plants varied depending on the year, farm and cultivar.
These symptoms were observed on large scale mainly in Oriental lily hybrids obtained from imported bulbs, in summer as well as in winter production.
The results of three years observation revealed that most of the lily plants Casablanca showing severe symptoms of natural infection in 1997 were symptomless in the following years.
The presence of phytoplasmas in both symptomatic and healthy-looking plants of three groups of Lilium sp. was demonstrated using polymerase chain reaction assays with universal (rA/fA, rU3/fU5 and R16R2/F2) and specific (R16(I)F1/R1) primer pairs amplifying phytoplasma 16S rDNA regions.
RFLP analysis of PCR products from different plants by digestion with enzymes Alu I, Mse I and Rsa I produced the same restriction profiles with each of these enzymes.
The restriction profiles from all these plants corresponded to that of aster yellows phytoplasma subgroup I-B. The aster yellows phytoplasma was detected in symptomatic as well as recovered and symptomless plants of L. longiflorum, Oriental and Asiatic lily hybrids.
The presence of phytoplasma with identical profiles was also detected in indicator plants of Catharanthus roseus experimentally infected by grafting with scions from lilies.
90% of tested lilies were also naturally infected with lily symptomless virus (LSV) alone, or with both LSV and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV).
Authors
M. Kaminska, M. Korbin
Keywords
Lilium, phytoplasma, PCR, RFLP
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