Multigene characterization of 'Candidatus phytoplasma solani' strains infecting pepper, celery and maize in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Molecular characterisation was performed on phytoplasma strains collected in Semberia region of Bosnia and Herzegovina from symptomatic maize, pepper and celery and resulted infected with 'Ca. P. solani', by a multigene RFLP and sequencing study. The RFLP analyses on tuf, secY, vmp1 and stamp genes allow to differentiate 8 lineages in the 13 positive samples obtained, indicating the presence of different ‘Ca. P. solani’ lineages. Three lineages were detected in the seven samples of maize, each of the four pepper was infected by a different lineage, and one of these was also found in one of the two celery samples. The phytoplasmas in the other celery sample represent a further lineage. The identification of a number of lineages in these crops compared to the 4 detected in grapevine in previous surveys, allow to speculate the presence of insect vectors that could be different in the case of these crops from those reported for grapevine or of possible increasing of phytoplasma biodiversity by their possible seed transmission.