Investigating the microbial composition of “flavescence dorée”-infected grapevine plants

Plants are inhabited by a wide variety of microorganisms, that interact and influence the ability of pathogens to colonize the hosts. Phytoplasmas are part of this network and compete with the rest of the microorganisms for nutrients and space. To investigate the microbial composition of grapevine plants infected with “flavescence dorée” phytoplasmas, next generation sequencing analyses, using the Illumina method, were performed on total DNA. The percentage of phytoplasma OTUs identified in the infected plants was high and consistent with the results obtained by PCR/RFLP analyses. The identification of bacteria in families Micrococcaceae, Sphingomonadaceae and Beijerinckiaceae should help the search of possible microorganisms helpful for improved “flavescence dorée” phytoplasma control strategies