Candidatus phytoplasma trifolii associated with witches' broom of Lespedeza cyrtobotrya M.

The Symptoms of witches' broom disease caused by phytoplasma including general stunting and yellowing, were observed in leafy lespedeza (Lespedeza cyrtobotrya M.) on Doam-myeon, Pyeongchang-gim, in 2006. Based on the sequence analysis of PCR-amplified 16S ribosomal DNA and 16S-23S spacer region DNA products using universal phytoplasma primers, the phytoplasma associated with leafy lespedeza witches' broom (LLWB) disease was identified as a member of Candidatus Pyto-plasma trifolii. It was most closely related to alsike clover proliferation phytoplasma (99.8% similarity, accession no. AY390261), Candidatus Pytoplasma trifolii strain. RFLP patterns generated with Alul, Hpall clearly differentiated LLWB phytoplasma from the referenced phytoplasma strains, water dropwort witches' broom, mulberry dwarf, glehni aster yellow dwarf and jujube witches' broom. This paper is the first report on Candidatus Phytoplasma trifolii in leafy lespedeza identified at a molecular level.