Weed hosts of phytoplasmas in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The research was focused on wild plants that represent possible sources of phytoplasma infection. Thirteen species of wild herbaceous plants with symptoms of shoot proliferation, phyllody, virescence, sterility or yellowing have been collected from different locations of the Czech Republic. To detect and identify phytoplasmas, plants were subjected to electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, PCR, and RFLP analysis. There were phytoplasma positive species: Matricaria chamomilla, Plantago lanceolata, Plantago media, Silene latifolia ssp. alba, Stellaria media, Taraxacum officinale, Thlaspi arvense, Tragopogon pratensis, Trifolium pratense, Trifolium repens, Trifolium hybridum, Tripleurospermum maritimum, and Verbascum densiflorum. All the phytoplasmas detected were identified as belonging to the aster yellows group (subgroup 16SrI-B and 16SrI-C). With regard to a relatively high incidence of positively tested plants from several locations, Trifolium species are considered to be one of the most important natural reservoirs of aster yellows phytoplasma within the Czech Republic.

Keywords

• matricaria chamomilla
• plantago lanceolata
• plantago media
• silene latifolia ssp. alba
• stellaria media
• taraxacum officinale
• thlaspi arvense
• tragopogon pratensis
• trifolium pratense
• trifolium repens
• trifolium hybridum
• tripleurospermum maritimum
• verbascum densi
• orum
• aster yellows phytoplasma
• pcr
• rflp
• tem
• dapi staining