1Plant Protection Department Faculty of Agriculture, Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya-Hatay, Turkey
2Plant Protection Department Faculty of Agriculture, Malatya Turgut Ozal University, Malatya, Turkey
*Corresponding author e-mail: Kadriye Çaglayan (email: kcaglayano@yahoo.com)
Online published on 25 July, 2019.
Leaves, flowers and shoots of ornamental pomegranates showing yellowing and leaf deformation were collected from symptomatic and non-symptomatic plants between 2015 and 2017 from Hatay, Sanliurfa and Gebze provinces of Turkey. Among the 20 tested pomegranate samples, 10 were positive for phytoplasmas using 16R758f/16R1232r and U5/U3 primers amplifying 16S ribosomal RNA gene. The sequences of 8 strains shared the closest nucleotide identity (99%) with phytoplasmas in group 16SrIX and the remaining 2 strains had 98% identity with the ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’ (subgroup 16SrXII-A). The present study represents the first evidence of phytoplasma association with yellowing symptoms in ornamental pomegranates in Turkey.
Ornamental pomegranate, phytoplasma, 16SrIX-C, 16SrXII-A, PCR, sequencing, Turkey
