Primer informe de la presencia de fitoplasmas en habichuela (Vigna unguiculata subesp. sesquipedalis (L.) Verdc. en Cuba.

The objectives of this work were i) determine the entity associated with snap bean plants (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis (L.) Verdc. with symptoms similar to those produced by phytoplasmas, ii) ratify or not this initial presumptive diagnosis and iii) offer farmers some tactics for its management. The leaf samples were collected in beds of the Basic Unit of Cooperative Production "Organopónico Vivero Alamar", located in the Municipality of Habana del Este, Havana, Cuba. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from leaf samples by the CTAB 2 % method and the phytoplasmas were detected by nested Polymerase Chain Reaction (nPCR) using a pair of universal primers that amplify 16 S ribosomal RNA. The plants showed dwarfism, short internodes, yellowing, and leaf deformation from the initial growth phases The primers and PCR conditions used allowed the specific amplification of a 1250 bp fragment in these plants that coincided with the one obtained for the band corresponding to phytoplasmas (positive controls used). This is the first report of the presence of phytoplasmas in snap beans in Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]