Phytoplasmas are associated with the lethal disease of coconut palms in Tanzania (LDT). It is a destructive yellowing-type syndrome (LYTS) exhibiting differences losses between southern districts and northern districts. To explain these differences, existence variable pathogenic strains LDT phytoplasma was investigated using ribosomal RNA gene PCR primers. A total 84 samples were collected from...

Phytoplasmas are plant pathogenic wall-less bacteria transmitted in a persistent propagative manner by hemipteran insects, mainly belonging to the suborder Auchenorrhyncha (Fulgoromorpha and Cicadomorpha). Flavescence dorée (FD) is quarantine disease of grapevine, causing great damage European viticulture associated with phytoplasmas 16SrV-C (FD-C) -D (FD-D) subgroups. FD-C FD-D strains share s...

Introduetion Apple proliferation (AP) is one of the most economically important phytoplasmal diseases in Europe. It seriously impairs fruit size, yield, and vigor of the trees. AP was first reported in northern Italy (Rui et al., 1950). In the following decades, the occurrence of AP was reported from most European countries. Due to its transmissibility by grafting, the disease was initially tho...

The importation of sugarcane varieties from other countries is necessary for the breeding of new varieties suited to the diverse environmental conditions in South Africa. To prevent the introduction and spread of new diseases, it is crucial that any imported pathogens are detected before the cane is released from quarantine. Although not present in South Africa, Grassy Shoot (GS) and Sugarcane ...

A phytoplasma was detected in naturally diseased 'Chardonnay' grapevines exhibiting symptoms of Australian grapevine yellows disease. The use of PCR designed to amplify phytoplasma DNA resulted in detection of phytoplasma DNA in all of the diseased plants examined; no phytoplasma DNA was detected in healthy seedling grapevines. The collective restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patt...

Phytoplasmas, the causal agents of numerous plant diseases, are insect-vector-transmitted, cell-wall-less bacteria descended from ancestral low-G+C-content Gram-positive bacteria in the Bacillus-Clostridium group. Despite their monophyletic origin, widely divergent phytoplasma lineages have evolved in adaptation to specific ecological niches. Classification and taxonomic assignment of phytoplas...

Phytoplasmas are mycoplasma-like pathogens of witches' broom disease, and are responsible for serious yield losses of Paulownia trees worldwide. The molecular mechanisms of disease development in Paulownia are of considerable interest, but still poorly understood. Here, we have applied transcriptome sequencing technology and a de novo assembly approach to analyze gene expression profiles in Pau...

Phytoplasmas are insect-borne plant pathogenic bacteria that alter host morphology. TENGU, a small peptide of 38 residues, is a virulence factor secreted by phytoplasmas that induces dwarfism and witches' broom in the host plant. In this study, we demonstrate that plants process TENGU in order to generate small functional peptides. First, virus vector-mediated transient expression demonstrated ...