ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1681421
First Report of 16SrII–A Phytoplasma Associated with Witches' Broom in Heliotropium arboreum (Blanco) Mabb. from Xisha Islands, with Halticus minutus as a Putative Vector
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Plant Protection, Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China
- 2Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology, Haikou, China
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Heliotropium arboreum (Blanco) Mabb. (syn. Tournefortia argentea), a key pioneer plant in tropical coastal ecosystems, plays a vital role in stabilizing coral islands. In China's Xisha Islands, H. arboreum exhibited witches' broom symptoms (leaf deformities, reduced leaf size, floral phyllody). PCR assays were employed—using universal and phytoplasma—specific primers to amplify the 16S rRNA, secY, and secA genes—yielding amplicons of 1,248 bp (PV640668), 779 bp (PV854866), and 440 bp (PV854867), confirming a phytoplasma infection (designated H. arboreum witches' broom phytoplasma, HaWB). BLASTn analysis showed 100% sequence identity with 16SrII–group phytoplasmas, while phylogenetic and virtual RFLP analyses classified HaWB as a 16SrII–A subgroup strain. Additionally, morphological and molecular analyses of insects collected from symptomatic plants identified Halticus minutus as a putative vector. This is the first report of phytoplasma infecting H. arboreum in China, providing critical insights for disease surveillance in fragile coastal ecosystems.
Keywords: Heliotropium arboreum, 16SrII–A, Phytoplasma, molecular identification, Halticusminutus
Received: 07 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Feng, Qin, Ji, Duan and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ruijun Duan, Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology, Haikou, China
Weikang Huang, Institute of Plant Protection, Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China
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