The source plant for phytoplasmas in the Israeli vineyards is still a mystery Yelin Mery Dafny1, Orbach David2, Zahavi Tirtza3,*, Sharon Rakefet4,5, Brudoley Rima1, Barkai Roni Shachar1, Tomer Maor4, Sofer-Arad Carmit4, Weintraub Phyllis6, Mawassi Munir7, Naor Vered1,5 1Golan Research Institute, Katzrin, Israel 2The Volcani Center, Neve Ya'ar Research Center, Ramat Yishay, Israel 3Extension Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Kiryat Shmona, Israel 4MIGAL - Northern Research & Development, Kiryat Shmona, Israel 5Ohalo College, Katzrin, Israel 6The Volcani Center, Gilat, Israel 7Plant Pathology and Weed Research, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel *Corresponding author e-mail: Tirtza Zahavi (tirtzaz@yahoo.com)
Online published on 2 January, 2015. Abstract The fact that phytoplasma could not be detected in Vitex agnus-castus which is the preferred host of the insect vector, suggested that other plant species are involved. Israeli vineyards and surroundings were surveyed. Samples from grapevines, wild and cultivated species were analysed. To confirm the presence of phytoplasma, DNA was extracted and amplified using general phytoplasma ribosomal primers and specific tub primers. Phytoplasma tuf-type was identified by PCR/RFLP analyses. The results show that “stolbur” phytoplasma tuf-type b is the only type that was detected in symptomatic grapevines but it was not detected in any other plant species that was sampled. In V. agnus-castus, Convolvulus, Urtica and Crepis, considered as potential host plants, peanut witches’ broom (16SrII) or pigeon pea witches’ broom (16SrIX) related phytoplasmas were detected in 2.8–23% of the samples. Consequently, the source plant for “stolbur” phytoplasma in vineyards remains unknown. Top Keywords Wild plant species, host plant, “stolbur” tuf-type b, 16SrXII, 16SrII, grapevine. Top |