Identification of phytoplasma associated with witches' broom and virescence diseases of sesame in Oman

Akhtar Jamal Khan, Kristi Bottner, Nadiya Al-Saadi, Ali Masoud Al-Subhi, Ing Ming Lee*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an important field crop grown in the northern and interior regions of Oman for oil and animal feed. Phyllody, virescence and witches' broom symptoms, resembling those caused by phytoplasma infection were observed during 2004 - 2006. A nested PCR assay using primer pair Pl/16S-Sr followed by R16F2n/R16R2n was used to amplify a 1.53 kb and 1.2 kb fragment of the phytoplasma 16S rRNA gene, respectively. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of 16S rDNA of sesame witches' broom phytoplasma strains singly digested with AluI, MseI, TaqI, and Tsp509I yielded patterns similar to those of alfalfa witches' broom phytoplasma belonging to subgroup 16SrII-D. The RFLP profiles of sesame witches' broom phytoplasma strains SIL and SIF were indistinguishable. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the sesame witches' broom phytoplasma strains (SIL, SIF) clustered with Omani alfalfa witches' broom forming a distinct lineage separate from peanut witches' broom and sesame phyllody (Thailand) phytoplasma strains.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)133-134
Number of pages2
JournalBulletin of Insectology
Volume60
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Keywords

  • 16s rRNA gene
  • Phyllody
  • Phytoplasma
  • RFLP
  • Sesame
  • Virescence
  • Witches' broom

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Insect Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Identification of phytoplasma associated with witches' broom and virescence diseases of sesame in Oman'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this