First report of Candidatus Phytoplasma Asteris Infecting Lily in Egypt

Abstract

During the inspection of imported grown Lily (Lilium spp.) plants (Acapulco cultivar), symptoms of Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris (Ca. P. astris) infestation was observed in the experimental fields of the Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza governorate. The observed disease symptoms included stunting, scorched and leaf discoloration, flowering bud failure, and reduced quality of bulbs. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was the key technique employed in this study. Four pairs of primers were used in PCR analysis. In the first amplification, a universal primer pair P1/P7 was used to amplify a 1.8 kbp DNA fragment of the rRNA operon. In the second nested amplification, the universal primer pairs R16F2n/R16R2 (F2n/R2) and R16F0/R16R1 (F0/R1) and the specific P1/Ayint were used to detect 1.2, 1.44, and 1.5 kbp, respectively, from aster yellows group phytoplasma infecting plants. Containment of phytoplasma infestation in lily was obtained through a periodical spray of infected lily plants with tetracycline hydrochloride antibiotic. Lily plants are vegetatively propagated. This allows the spread of this phytoplasma to several economic crops.

Detection and Molecular Characterization of Phytoplasma Associated with Phyllody Disease on Dimorphotheca pluvialis in Egypt

“…In Egypt, phytoplasma was found as Candidatus phytoplasma asteris infecting lilies (Lilium spp.) (Abdel-Salam et al, 2022), gazania phyllody disease (Gad et al, 2019), aster yellows phytoplasma affecting Cycas revoluta (Behiry, 2018) and rose phyllody disease (Mikhail et al, 2012).…”

“…Such a value is within the range recorded by other authors for phytoplasma in the ornamental plants, such as rose (Mikhail et al, 2012), pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) (Esmailzadeh Hosseini et al, 2018;Gharouni-Kardani et al, 2020), gazania (Gad et al, 2019), Coreopsis grandiflora (Gharouni-Kardani et al, 2020), Dodonaea viscosa (Mokbel, 2020), lily (Lilium spp.) (Abdel-Salam et al, 2022) and narrowleaf firethorn (Pyracantha angustifolia) plants (Kilic et al, 2022). Dimo-Cairo was directly sequenced and deposited in GenBank under accession number (OQ676407.1).…”

“…In Egypt, phytoplasma infecting lilies (Lilium spp.) (Abdel-Salam et al, 2022), Dodonaea viscosa (Mokbel, 2020), gazania (Gad et al, 2019), Cycas revoluta (Behiry, 2018) and rose plants (Mikhail et al, 2012). All the above phytoplasma infections cause significant losses in the yield quantity and quality of infected plants.…”