Identification of diverse phytoplasmas in sugarcane yellow canopy syndrome

Sugarcane is cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its high rate of sucrose accumulation, ease of propagation via vegetative stem cuttings and multiple harvests from a single planting. The Australian sugarcane industry is recently facing a new threat know as yellow canopy syndrome (YCS). Samples exhibiting the yellowing symptoms were collected in Queensland, and molecular analyses were conducted to verify the presence of phytoplasmas. The tested samples resulted positive to the presence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma brasiliense’, ‘Ca. P. aurantifolia=citri’ and ‘Ca. P. asteris’ by preliminary RFLP analyses followed by amplicon sequencing. Despite the large presence of phytoplasmas in the symptomatic samples tested further investigation are needed to confirm a correlation between the YCS and the detected bacteria.