1Division of Plant Pathology, Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Pusa Campus, New Delhi-110012, India
2Central Lab, UP Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahnapur-242001, Uttar Pradesh, India
3Department of Botany, DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur-270008, Uttar Pradesh, India
Online published on 24 August, 2017.
Little leaf and shoot proliferation symptoms were observed in Ocimum canum plants growing in sesame phyllody infected fields at Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. PCR assays on 16Sr RNA and secA genes yielded about 1.2 kbp and 480 bp products respectively only from symptomatic plants. Association of 16SrI-B subgroup phytoplasma with little leaf disease of O. canum was confirmed through BLASTn search, phylogenetic, and in silico RFLP analyses. To the best of knowledge, this is the first report of occurrence of a 16SrI-B subgroup phytoplasma associated with O. canum little leaf disease. Wild O. canum may play an important role in maintenance of sesame phyllody phytoplasma in the environment due to the presence of still unknown insect vectors.
‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’, Ocimum canum, little leaf, RFLP, PCR, phylogenetic analysis
