Phytoplasma transmission to sugar beet with a natural vector: a modelization of the low sugar syndrome

• Published in: Comptes-Rendus des Congres de l'Institut International de Recherches Betteravieres (Belgium) Vol. 61
• Main Authors: Gatineau, F, Garressus, S, Richard-Molard, M. (Institut technique de la betterave, Paris (France)), Bourgoin, T, Boudon-Padieu, E, Schweisguth, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: 1998
• Subjects: BETA VULGARIS; FITOPLASMAS; FRANCE; FRANCIA; HEMIPTERA; PHYTOPLASMAS; PHYTOPLASME; SINTOMAS; SYMPTOME; SYMPTOMS; VECTEUR DE MALADIE; VECTORES; VECTORS
• ISSN: 0367-098X

Research on the Low-sugar syndrom of sugar beet is being carried on considering the hypothesis of phytoplasma etiology. Search for a natural vector was undertaken from June to September 1997. Insect trapping were done in fields of sugarbeet grown in an area which had been severely affected in 1996. A planthopper species, yet not detected in the preceding years, and not formerly reported as a phytoplasma vector, was present in high populations from June to the beginning of August. Some of the individuals which further tested PCR positive for a stolbur phytoplasma (3 to 10 /), transmitted the phytoplasma by feeding to seedlings of sugarbeet and periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus). Symptoms appeared in August in the fields under investigation. Even though these first results of experimental inoculation do not allow any conclusion on the etiology of the syndrom, this vector is now available for the continuation of the investigations on the disease, especially in attempts to reproduce the expression of symptoms.