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

ABSTRACT: To sustain epidemiological studies on coconut lethal yellowing disease (CLYD), a devastating disease in Africa caused by a phytoplasma, we developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme for "Candidatus Phytoplasma palmicola" based on eight housekeeping genes. At the continental level, eight different sequence types were identified among 132 "Candidatus Phytoplasma palmicola"-infected coconuts collected in Ghana, Nigeria, and Mozambique, where CLYD epidemics are still very active. "Candidatus Phytoplasma palmicola" appeared to be a bacterium that is subject to strong bottlenecks, reducing the fixation of positively selected beneficial mutations into the bacterial population. This phenomenon, as well as a limited plant host range, might explain the observed country

SUBMITTER: Pilet F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6450020 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature