EUROPEAN STONE FRUIT YELLOWS PHYTOPLASMA AS THE CAUSE OF PEACH VEIN ENLARGEMENT AND OTHER YELLOWS AND DECLINE DISEASES OF STONE FRUITS IN SOUTHERN ITALY
C. Marcone et al., EUROPEAN STONE FRUIT YELLOWS PHYTOPLASMA AS THE CAUSE OF PEACH VEIN ENLARGEMENT AND OTHER YELLOWS AND DECLINE DISEASES OF STONE FRUITS IN SOUTHERN ITALY, Journal of phytopathology, 144(11-12), 1996, pp. 559-564
In the Campania region of southern Italy, peach trees showing vein enl
argement and decline symptoms, as well as apricot and Japanese plum tr
ees showing symptoms similar to that of apricot chlorotic leaf roll an
d plum leptonecrosis, respectively, were examined for phytoplasma infe
ction using PCR technology. From diseased apricot and plum trees, the
target DNA could be amplified with both universal phytoplasma primers
and primers that are specific for fruit tree phytoplasmas of the apple
proliferation group. However, from samples from diseased peach trees,
detectable amplification products were only obtained by nested PCR, i
n which amplification with universal phytoplasma primers was followed
by amplification with primers specific for the apple proliferation gro
up. Following digestion of the amplification products with suitable re
striction enzymes, all strains from apricot, plum, and peach showed th
e same restriction profiles that were identical to those of the Europe
an stone fruit yellows phytoplasma, a member of the apple proliferatio
n group.