Genipa americana and Ageratina anisochroma, two new hosts of Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris in Costa Rica

Abstract

We report two new plant species hosts for Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris: Genipa americana (Rubiaceae) and Ageratina anisochroma (Asteraceae). Phytoplasma infections were detected by real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification and nestedPCR.Consensussequencesfrombothhostsshare99%identitytothe16SrI-BsubgroupusingBLAST;however,potential new subgroups are suggested due to unique RFLP patterns of the 16S rDNA F2nR2 fragment.