Phyllody Phytoplasma infecting Sesame (Sesamum indicum) in Myanmar

Phyllody symptoms in sesame plants consisting of green leaf-like floral organs were collected from Yezin area, NayPyiTaw Division, Myanmar in January, 2010 and the etiological agent was investigated. By using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), phytoplasma was detected from the symptoms and termed sesame phyllody phytoplasma (SP-MYAN). Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of 16S rDNA products revealed that the diseased sesames were infected by phytoplasma belonging to the group 16SrI and subgroup 16SrI-B. Sequence analysis confirmed that SP-MYAN was a member of Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris and most closely related to that of sesame phyllody phytoplasma from India (99.6 % similarity, DQ431843), Ca. P. asteris strain. To our knowledge, this is the first report on molecular identification of 'Ca. P. asteris' affecting sesame crop in Myanmar.