A genetic analysis reveals low prevalence of phytoplasma infection in Hyalesthes obsoletus Signoret, vector of 'bois noir', in SW-Germany

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1 Department of Biometry and Environmental System Analysis, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
2 Research Group for Viticulture, Department of Life Sciences and Facility Management, Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW, Wädenswil, Switzerland
3 State Institute of Viticulture and Oenology, Freiburg, Germany
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.732v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Agricultural Science, Ecology, Entomology, Microbiology
Keywords
Phytoplasma, Bois Noir, Grape diseases, Grapevine, planthopper, Insect pest, body size, molecular diagnosis, Hyalesthes obsoletus
Copyright
© 2014 Schiro et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Schiro G, Fahrentrapp J, Hartig F, Panassiti B. 2014. A genetic analysis reveals low prevalence of phytoplasma infection in Hyalesthes obsoletus Signoret, vector of 'bois noir', in SW-Germany. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e732v1

Abstract

Bois Noir is a grapevine disease responsible for severe economic losses in wine production. Bois Noir is caused by Candidatus Phytoplasma solani, cell wall-less bacteria belonging to the taxonomic group 16Sr-XII-A. In Germany, they are known to be vectored from plant to plant by the cixiid Hyalesthes obsoletus, but so far the prevalence of the disease in the vector population, as well as its spatio-temporal distribution is poorly understood. We therefore analyzed infections of H. obsoletus collected in different vineyards in Baden (South-Western Germany) with quantitative real-time PCR. From 125 analyzed individuals, only five were infected with Ca. Phytoplasma solani. All infected individuals were colonized by Ca. Phytoplasma solani type I which is associated with the host plant Urtica dioica (stinging nettle). More research is needed to understand the reasons of this surprisingly low prevalence of Bois Noir in the population of H. obsoletus in South-West Germany.

Author Comment

This is the first version of a submission to PeerJ.