Presence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ in red gram and horse gram in Ananthapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh, India

In 2022 symptoms of little leaf, malformation of inflorescence and witches’ broom were observed in pigeon pea (red gram) and horse gram in the Ananthapuranum district of Andra Pradesh in India. DNA was amplified from symptomatic samples of red gram and horse gram by nested PCR assays using primers that target the 16Sr RNA gene. No DNA amplifications were observed the non-symptomatic samples. Sequence comparison, phylogeny and virtual RFLP analysis of the 16Sr RNA gene sequences of phytoplasmas identified confirmed the presence of a ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ (16SrI-B) strain. Association of ‘Ca. P. asteris’ with horse gram witches’ broom and little leaf is a new world report.