Occurrence of rocket larkspur witches’ broom caused by “<Emphasis Type="Italic">Candidatus</Emphasis> Phytoplasma asteris” in Japan

In October 2001, a disease of rocket larkspur (Cosolida ambigua (L.) P. W. Ball et Heyw), characterized by witches’ broom, yellows and virescence of flowers, was found in Yakage Town in Okayama Prefecture. Electron microscopy revealed the presence of phytoplasma-like bodies in the phloem of diseased plants. The causal phytoplasma was identified as “Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris” based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis, and demonstrated to be acquired by the leafhopper Macrosteles striifrons. The nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under the accession number AB258330.