Phytopathogenic Mollicutes
Year : 2011, Volume : 1, Issue : 1
First page : ( 21) Last page : ( 25)
Print ISSN : 2249-4669. Online ISSN : 2249-4677.
Article DOI : 10.5958/j.2249-4669.1.1.003

Diversity of phytoplasma population causing small fruiting in the apple orchards of the pelion mountain (Greece)

Rumbou Artemis^1,*, Adamopoulos Ioannis¹, Schneider Bernd², Kube Michael³, Rumbos Ioannis¹

¹National Agricultural Research Foundation/Plant Protection Institute, Fytokou str., 38001, Volos, Greece

²Julius Kühn Institute/Institute for Plant Protection in Fruit Crops and Viticulture, Schwabenheimer Str., 101, 69221, Dossenheim, Germany

³Max Planck Institute/Institute for Molecular Genetics, Ihnestr. 63–73, 14195, Berlin, Germany

Corresponding author e-mail: *amirumbou@yahoo.gr

Received:  23  March,  2011; Accepted:  8  May,  2011.

Abstract

The small fruiting phenomenon in apple trees was observed more than a decade ago in the orchards of the Pelion Mountain and since then reached an epidemic level. Phytoplasmas were identified in diseased trees by amplification of ribosomal DNA fragments. The diversity of occurring phytoplasma strains was investigated by sequence analysis of fragments of the 16S rDNA region from root samples collected from different orchards on the mountain. Additionally to ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma mali’, also ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pyri’, the phytoplasma associated with pear decline, was identified. Furthermore, sequences that showed high similarity with other phytoplasma species were identified. These results constitute evidence for phytoplasma species diversity in Malus domestica cultivars in Greece.

Top

Keywords

Phytoplasma, diversity, apple orchards, Greece.

Top