Borth, W. B., J. S. Hu, and D. E. Gardner. 1992. Dodonaea yellows disease in Hawaii is associated with viruslike particles and mycoplasmalike organisms. Phytopathology 82:1094.
ABSTRACT
The yellows disease of Dodonaea viscosa in the Hawaiian islands is characterized by the production of pendulous, chlorotic witches' brooms on afflicted plants. The disorder is not seed transmitted. Flexuous, rod-shaped viruslike particles of 16 nm diameter and 700 nm length and dsRNA of 3 x 106 daltons have been detected in symptomatic but not symptomless plants. Oligomeric probes capable of detecting highly conserved nucleic acid sequences from the 16S ribosomal gene of a wide variety of MLOs were used to screen symptomatic plants and symptomless plants. 80% of symptomatic and 30% of symptomless plants sampled from sites on all the major Hawaiian islands reacted positively with this probe. Pleiomorphic bodies bound by a single unit membrane were also observed in necrotic phloem elements in roots of symptomatic plants using TEM. Partial alleviation of symptoms on diseased plants was achieved following application of oxytetracycline by direct injection. The results suggest a complex etiology for this disease which involves both viruslike particles and MLOs.
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