1Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, National Research Council of Italy, Bari, Italy
2Department of Plant Protection, Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute, Tal Amara, Zahle, Lebanon
*Corresponding author e-mail: Nicoletta Contaldo (nicoletta.contaldo@ipsp.cnr.it)
Online published on 23 May, 2023.
In July 2018, several sweet pepper plants showing symptoms of leaf chlorosis, yellowing and stunted leaves, typically associated with phytoplasma infection, were observed in different locations in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify the 16S ribosomal gene of phytoplasmas with the universal primers P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2 primers in nested PCR assay. The amplifications from all the symptomatic plants yielded a product of 1.2 kb in nested PCR. BLAST and phylogenetic analysis of the amplified 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed the presence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’ and ‘Ca. P. trifolii’ phytoplasmas. This is the first report of the occurrence of ‘Ca. P. solani’ in pepper in Lebanon.
Pepper, Candidatus Phytoplasma trifolii, Molecular analyses, 16S ribosomal gene, Nested PCR
