title: Detection and molecular characterization of an aster yellows phytoplasma in poker statice and Queen Anne's lace in Alberta, Canada.
abstract: Queen Anne's lace and poker statice plants were found with a yellows-type disease with typical phytoplasma symptoms in an experimental farm near Brooks, Alberta in 1996. Phytoplasma bodies were detected by transmission electron microscopy in phloem cells of symptomatic plants, but not in healthy plants. The presence of a phytoplasma was confirmed by analysis with the polymerase chain reaction. Using a pair of universal primer sequences derived from phytoplasma 16S rRNA, an amplified product of the expected size (1.2 kb) was observed in samples from infected plants, but not in asymptomatic plants. Sequence analysis of the PCR products from the 16S/23S rDNA intergenic spacer region indicated that the two phytoplasma isolates in Queen Anne's lace and poker statice are genetically closely related to the western aster yellows phytoplasma.
authors.affiliation: Field Crop Development Centre, 6000 C and E Trail, Lacombe, Alta., Canada T4L 1W1.
authors.forename: Kan-Fa
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Sheau-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Abdul-Hameed
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Khadhair
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kawchuk
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Howard
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018552:Daucus carota / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D045582:Phytoplasma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D029606:Plumbaginaceae / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S