Determination of the Putative Insect Vector of Napier Grass Stunt Phytoplasma using Molecular and Bioassay techniques in Western Kenya
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Date
2008-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Sampling insects in and around Napier grass fields revealed that 21 Homopteran insect
species exploit Napier Grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach 1827) canopy. Leafhopper
Cicadulina sp., and plant hoppers; Leptodelphax dymas Young, and Sogatella manentho
Horvath, are the most dominant Napier canopy insects. This study developed a Loop
Mediated Isothermal Amplification of DNA (LAMP) for rapid detection of phytoplasma 16S
rDNA. LAMP was simple, sensitive, specific, robust and very rapid Napier Grass Stunt
phytoplasma (Ngs-phytoplasma) detection technique. After a 20 days of phytoplasma
Acquisition Access Period (AAP) on diseased Napier grass and 30 days latency period on
healthy grasses, Cicadulina sp., Exitianus sp 5., and Cofana spectra Distant tested positive for
Ngs-phytoplasma indicating that they interact with Ngs-phytoplasma in circulative manner.
The ability of these Napier Canopy insects to vector Ngs-phytoplasma was confirmed by
Membrane feeding and Natural transmission experiments, incriminating the white leafhopper,
Cofana spectra Distant to be the leading insect vector of Ngs-phytoplasma though Cicadulina
sp., and Exitianus sp 5 cannot be ruled out as additional vector(s).
Key Words: Homoptera of Napier grass canopy, Loop mediated isothermal amplification of
DNA (LAMP), Napier grass stunt phytoplasma (Ngs-phytoplasma), Transmission
experiments.
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Keywords
Homoptera of Napier grass canopy, Loop mediated isothermal amplification of DNA (LAMP), Napier grass stunt phytoplasma (Ngs-phytoplasma), Transmission experiments.