Sandalwood spike disease (SSD) is a serious disease of Indian sandal tree (Santalum album). The disease is caused by a Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris strain of subgroup 16SrI-B. The disease is naturally spread through leafhopper and root-grafting. The infected plants take long time to express disease symptoms and eventually die. The diagnostic disease symptom of SSD is crowded small chlorotic leaves on stiff twigs that has spike like appearance. There are various biological, histopathological, electron microscopic and molecular methods available for the detection and identification of phytoplasma. Biological and histopathological tests are time consuming and ambiguous. Serological test like ELISA and molecular test like PCR are more versatile and accurate for the detection of phytoplasma. Application of various molecular techniques like nested PCR, RFLP and sequence analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA led to identify the SSD phytoplasma isolates as a member of 16SrI-B and 16SrXI-B phytoplasma subgroups. In this chapter, various diagnostic methods utilised for the detection and identification of SSD phytoplasma are summarised.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.