Abstract
Pearl millet fields showing distinctly affected plants with bushy tops were spotted in September 2009 in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, India. Plants exhibited a broom-like appearance of panicles bearing leafy structures in place of florets and panicles looked much greener in comparison to the healthy inflorescences. Both symptom-bearing and healthy panicles were collected for further evaluation. Genomic DNA was isolated and subjected to nested-PCR assay. An amplicon of 1.24 kb was obtained for the 3 samples from symptom-bearing plants, while no amplicons were observed for healthy and negative controls. RFLP profiles of the amplicon indicated that the phytoplasma detected was a member of group 16SrI Phytoplasma asteris subgroup 16SrI-B. The PCR product was purified, sequenced and submitted to GenBank (Accession No. HM134245). Analysis of the partial 16S rDNA sequence showed a 99% sequence identity with those of the 16SrI phytoplasmas, confirming the results. This is thought to be the first record of group 16SrI P. asteris associated with the green ear disease of pearl millet and the first world record of pearl millet as a new host for phytoplasma.