ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Pune-411067, Maharashtra, India
*Corresponding author e-mail: Savarni Tripathi (savarni.tripathi@icar.gov.in)
Online published on 22 March, 2022.
Eggplants exhibiting phyllody and virescence symptoms typical of phytoplasma infection were observed in fields in Alandi, Pune, Maharashtra, India. The phytoplasma presence was confirmed in all symptomatic samples using PCR and nested PCR with specific primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R2. Nucleotide sequence comparison revealed that the amplicon sequence shares more than 99% identity with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ sequences and in the phylogenetic analysis clustered with sequences of similar strains of phytoplasmas. Virtual RFLP analysis of 16S rDNA sequences enabled to enclose the strain into the 16SrI-X subgroup. This is the first report of natural occurrence of a 16SrI-X phytoplasma in eggplant.
Solanum melongena, Aubergine, Brinjal, Maharashtra, Disease, Molecular classification
