Salix babylonica: a new host of 'Candidatus Phytoplasma ziziphi'.

In a survey in 2020, Salix babylonica trees displaying symptoms of phyllody, little leaves, and dieback were observed in Xinjiang province of China. Nested PCRs carried out using universal primer pairs for 16 S rRNA and tuf genes, detected the presence of phytoplasmas in symptomatic trees, while no amplification was found in symptomless trees. Blastn and phylogenetic analyses showed that detected phytoplasmas belong to the species 'Candidatus Phytoplasma ziziphi', ribosomal subgroup 16SrV-B. This is the first report of S. babylonica as plant host of 'Ca. Phytoplasma ziziphi', associated with phyllody disease in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]