First Report of Carrot Infection with Phytoplasmas in Slovenia

In Slovenia, in years 2016 and 2017, carrot plants were sampled for ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ presence verification. All samples were negative for this pathogen. Because some samples displayed symptoms reminiscent of phytoplasma diseases they were also tested for phytoplasma infection. An association of diseased plants with phytoplasmas was confirmed with the following protocol: (i) the presence of phytoplasmas was shown with the universal quantitative PCR and (ii) the ribosomal groups of 16SrI and 16SrXII were identified by specific qunatitative PCRs. Sequence analysis of tuf, secY and stamp gene fragments indicated that the 16SrXII phytoplasmas in carrot samples belong to the ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’. This research is the first report of carrot infection in phytoplasmas in Slovenia. Key words–aster yellows, ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’,

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