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Polymerase Chain Reaction Detection And Phylogenetic Characterization Of An Agent Associated With Yellow Vine Disease Of Cucurbits, Francisco J. Avila, Benny D. Bruton, Jacqueline Fletcher, J. L. Sherwood, Sam D. Pair, Ulrich Melcher

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Diagnosis of yellow vine disease (YVD) in cucurbits, an important disease in the south-central United States, relies on external symptom appearance, phloem discoloration, and the presence of bacterium-like organisms (BLOs) in phloem. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of BLO nucleotide sequences was explored as a means to improve diagnostic techniques. PCR, using a primer pair based on sequences of the citrus-greening BLO, amplified a 0.15-kilobase (kb) fragment from the DNA of symptomatic plants, but not from that of asymptomatic plants. Its nucleotide sequence suggested that the DNA amplified was of prokaryotic origin. A primer pair, designed to amplify nonspecific prokaryotic …