Bois noir is one of the most important diseases
caused by ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’ affecting
grapevine in the Euro-Mediterranean area. ‘Ca.
P. solani’ characterization plays a significant role in its
diagnosis, control and understanding of its epidemiology.
In the present study, two genes encoding membrane
proteins, namely vmp1 and stamp, were used to assess
the genetic variability of 18 ‘Ca. P. solani’ grapevine
isolates from the Herzegovina region (B&H), previously
characterised as tuf-b type. Nested-PCR/RFLP and sequence
analyses of vmp1 gene showed the presence of
three profiles V17, V14 and V4 where V17 was highly
prevalent. Phylogenetic analysis of stamp gene revealed
the presence of four different genotypes, where Rqg50
was the most frequent. Finally, the combined results of
tuf, vmp1 and stamp genes, reported three previously
identified genotypes from Serbia, Austria and
Montenegro, and two newly described ones (DB1 and
DB2). Although performed only on ‘Ca. P. solani’ isolates
from infected grapevines, this study provides useful
molecular information to get better insight on BN
epidemiology in B&H.
