Phytoplasma disease surveys in the extreme north of Queensland, Australia, and the island of New Guinea

Abstract

A series of surveys for phytoplasmas was conducted in parts of north Queensland, Australia, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), Indonesia. Sixty-one phytoplasma infections were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction in 24 different plant species. These included nine new Australian host records, four new PNG host records and the first two host records from Papua. These phytoplasmas were further characterised by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Almost all phytoplasmas found across the survey region were members of the faba bean phyllody (FBP) group, common in Australia and also found in south-east Asia. Four non-FBP phytoplasmas were also found. The phytoplasmas Stylosanthes little leaf (StLL) and Australian grapevine yellows (AGY) were recorded in north Queensland and loofah witches' broom phytoplasma (LfWB) originally known in Taiwan, was found in Papua. In addition, a previously undescribed phytoplasma found in association with a witches' broom of melaleuca trees in north Queensland was identified and characterised.