Identification of a 16SrIX‐B phytoplasma strain associated with Daphne mucronata phyllody in Iran

Abstract

During surveys from 2017 to 2018, a phyllody disease was observed in Daphne mucronata plants located in Lordegan and Ahmadliveh areas in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province (west of Iran). The main symptoms were yellowing, little leaf, phyllody and flower sterility. Total DNA was extracted from midrib tissue of fresh leaves from 30 symptomatic and five asymptomatic plants. DNA samples were subjected to nested PCR, using primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2. PCR amplicons of 1.8 and 1.25 kb, respectively, were obtained from all samples from symptomatic plants whilst no amplification was observed in samples from asymptomatic plants. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of R16F2n/R16R2 amplicons using MseI,