Multilocus Sequence Analysis Reveals Three Distinct Populations of “Candidatus Phytoplasma palmicola” with a Specific Geographical Distribution on the African Continent

• Fabian Pilet ^[3] ; Robert Nketsia Quaicoe ^[4] ; Isaac Jesuorobo Osagie ^[5] ; Marcos Freire ^[1] ; Xavier Foissac ^[2]
  1. [1] Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique

     Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique

     Mozambique

     
  2. [2] University of Bordeaux

     University of Bordeaux

     Arrondissement de Bordeaux, Francia

     
  3. [3] a CIRAD, UMR PVBMT, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France
  4. [4] b Council for Scientific Research Program–Oil Palm Research Institute (CSIR-OPRI), Sekondi, Ghana
  5. [5] c Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), Benin City, Nigeria

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• Localización: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, ISSN 0099-2240, Vol. 85, Nº 8, 2019
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Coconut is an important crop for both industry and small stakeholders in many intertropical countries. Phytoplasma-associated lethal yellowing-like diseases have become one of the major pests that limit coconut cultivation as they have emerged in different parts of the world. We developed a multilocus sequence typing scheme (MLST) for tracking epidemics of “Ca. Phytoplasma palmicola,” which is responsible for coconut lethal yellowing disease (CLYD) on the African continent. MLST analysis applied to diseased coconut samples collected in western and eastern African countries also showed the existence of three distinct populations of “Ca. Phytoplasma palmicola” with low intrapopulation diversity. The reasons for the observed strong geographic patterns remain to be established but could result from the lethality of CLYD and the dominance of short-distance insect-mediated transmission.