Molecular Identification of a 16SrII‐A Group‐Related Phytoplasma Associated with Cinnamon Yellow Leaf Disease in China |
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| Authors: | Yi Yang Lei Jiang Hai‐Yan Che Xue‐Ren Cao Jing‐Yu Yang Li‐Wei Sang Ai‐Qin Liu Da‐Quan Luo |
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| Institution: | 1. Environment and Plant Protection Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences;2. Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management on Tropical Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Haikou, China;3. Hainan Key Laboratory for Monitoring and Control of Tropical Agricultural Pests, Haikou, China;4. College of Environmental and Protection, Hainan University, Haikou, China;5. Spice and Beverage Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Wanning, China |
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| Abstract: | Chinese cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia Presl), an evergreen tree native to China, is a multifaceted medicinal plant. The stem bark of cinnamon is used worldwide in traditional and modern medicines and is one of the most popular cooking spices. In recent years, cinnamon with pronounced yellow leaf symptoms has been observed in their natural habitat in Hainan, China. Phytoplasmas were detected from symptomatic cinnamon trees via polymerase chain reaction using phytoplasma universal primers P1/P7 followed by R16F2n/R16R2. No amplification products were obtained from templates of asymptomatic cinnamon trees. These results indicated a direct association between phytoplasma infection and the cinnamon yellow leaf (CYL) disease. Sequence analysis of the CYL phytoplasma 16S rRNA gene determined that CYL phytoplasma is a ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma australasiae’‐related strain. Furthermore, virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism pattern analysis and phylogenetic studies showed that CYL phytoplasma belongs to the peanut witches’‐broom (16SrII) group, subgroup A. This is the first report of a 16SrII group phytoplasma infecting cinnamon under natural conditions. |
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| Keywords: | 16S rRNA Candidatus Phytoplasma australasiae cinnamon sequence analysis yellow leaf disease |
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