Grapevine MLOs in Italy
Strains of grapevine flavescence dorée MLO (EPPO A2 quarantine pest) from northern Italy (IT), southern European grapevine yellows MLO from southern Italy, Italian periwinkle virescence disease (MLO strain from northern Italy) and American aster yellows MLO were compared to assess the degree of relatedness between these MLOs. Biotinylated cloned DNA probes were employed in dot hybridizations and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis to compare these MLOs. Results obtained by this joint Italo-American research project indicated that at least two distinct MLOs are associated with grapevine yellows in Italy. Dot hybridization results revealed some relatedness between the grapevine flavescence dorée and southern European grapevine yellows as well as Italian periwinkle virescence disease with American aster yellows MLO. RFLP showed some similarities between southern European grapevine yellows and Italian periwinkle virescence disease, but showed a marked difference between these and grapevine flavescence dorée MLO.
Sources
Davis, R.E.; Dally, E.L.; Bertaccini, A.; Lee, I.-M.; Credi, R.; Osler, R.; Savino, V.; Carraro, L.; Di Terlizzi, B.; Barba, M. (1993) Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and dot hybridizations distinguish mycoplasma-like organisms associated with flavescence dor‚e and southern European grapevine yellows disease in Italy.
Phytopathology 83, 772-776.