First detection of little leaf disease caused by ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia’-related strain (16SrII-B subgroup) in Ficus carica

Abstract

Fig (Ficus carica) trees exhibited symptoms of little leaf, mottling and deformation in Sanliurfa province, Turkey. Poylmerase chain reaction (PCR) through direct and nested-PCR, phylogeny based on the sequence analysis revealed that the infecting agent was closely related to ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia’ (16SrII-B subgroup). This is the first report of Ca. P. aurantifolia in fig trees in Turkey.