First report of a ‘Candidatus phytoplasma asteris’ related (16SrI-B) phytoplasma associated with Rosa canina yellows disease in Iran

Document Type : Short Report

Authors

1 Fars Agricultural And Natural Resources Research And Education Centre, AREEO, Fars, Iran

2 Research Department, Yazd Agricultural And Natural Resources Research And Education Centre, AREEO, Yazd, Iran.

3 Research Department, Fars Agricultural And Natural Resources Research And Education Centre, AREEO, Fars, Iran

Abstract

In a 2022 survey conducted in Jahrom, Fars province, Iran, the dog rose yellows (DRY) disease was 
observed in Rosa canina L. plants. The disease manifested as severe yellowing, leaf curling, reduced 
flowering, abnormal flowers and stunted growth (Fig. 1). DNA from 15 symptomatic and four asymptomatic 
plants were analyzed for phytoplasma presence. Nested PCR with P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2 primers (Lee et 
al., 1998) yielded 1.25 kbp fragments exclusively from symptomatic plants. The sequences from these 
samples were identical and one was submitted to GenBank (Accession No. OQ332406). BLAST analysis 
revealed that the Jahrom DRY phytoplasma sequence matched with two Iranian 16SrI-B strains: Bajgah 
Tragopogon dubius phyllody (KR262955) and Zarghan onion yellows (MG519854). Phylogenetic analysis 
placed DRY phytoplasma within the 16SrI group, closet to the 16SrI-B subgroup (Fig. 2). In Iran, 16SrI-B 
phytoplasma subgroup has a wide host range and at least 11 plant species are reported as hosts of this 
subgroup (Esmaeilzadeh-Hosseini et al., 2023). Fifteen infected plants relative to 250 plants assessed, 
showed a noticeable distribution of the DRY disease. This report marks the first association of a 16SrI-B 
phytoplasma with DRY disease in Iran. Circulifer haematoceps leafhopper has been previously reported as 
vector of rapeseed phyllody phytoplasma, a 16SrI-B subgroup strain (Salehi et al., 2011) in Iran. However, 
the ability of C. haematoceps to transmit this 16SrI-B subgroup phytoplasma to dog rose is yet to be tested. 

Keywords

Iranian Journal of Plant Pathology
Volume 59, Issue 2
July 2024
Pages 137-133

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