Abstract

During field surveys in 2015, a phytoplasma-associated disease was identified in Narcissus tazetta plants in Behbahan, Iran. The characteristic symptoms were phyllody and virescence. The presence of phytoplasma in symptomatic plants was confirmed using PCR amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA, tuf, secY and vmp1 genes. Based on the blastn results, the sequences of 16S rRNA, tuf, secY and vmp1 genes shared, respectively, 99, 100, 99 and 99 sequence identity with phytoplasma strains in 16SrXII-A subgroup. RFLP and phylogenetic analyses using the sequences of 16S rRNA, tuf and secY genes confirmed the assortment of studied strains to 16SrXII-A phytoplasma subgroup. Sequence comparison of these four genes revealed that all the sequences of 28 strains studied were identical. To the best of our knowledge, the association of Candidatus Phytoplasma solani with N.tazetta was demonstrated for the first time in the world.