1Plant Protection Research Department, Yazd Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Yazd, Iran
2Plant Protection Research Department, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Shahrekord, Iran
3Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Bologna, Italy
*Corresponding author e-mail: Seyyed Alireza Esmaeilzadeh-Hosseini (phytoplasma.iran@gmail.com)
Online published on 25 July, 2019.
During 2014–2018 surveys in greenhouse growing cucumber in central and west of Iran, plants with flower virescence, phyllody and sterility were observed. The disease was observed in Yazd and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces. Molecular characterization of phytoplasmas associated with this diseases was carried out. Total DNAs extracted from 44 symptomatic and six symptomless plants were subjected to direct and nested PCR using P1/P7, R16mF2/R16mR2 and R16F2n/R16R2 primer pairs. Expected PCR amplicons were obtained only from symptomatic plants. Real and virtual RFLP, phylogenetic and DNA homology analyses of partial 16S ribosomal sequences of the strains detected in the symptomatic plants revealed the presence of phytoplasmas referable to two ribosomal subgroups, 16SrVI-A and 16SrXII-A. By comparing the 16S rDNA sequences available in the GenBank database from phytoplasma strains associated with greenhouse cucumber phyllody in Fars province and leaf, stem and fruit yellowing in Tehran province, it was possible to determine the presence of phytoplasmas clustering with strains in the 16SrII and 16SrVI groups, respectively. Based on the results of the present study and considering the reported presence of phytoplasmas belonging to the same ribosomal subgroups in other crops, these phytoplasmas seem to play an important role in the epidemiology of greenhouse cucumber phytoplasma diseases in Iran.
Phyllody, virescence, 16SrVI-A, 16SrXII-A, 16SrII
