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Research. X-Disease Confirmation and Distribution in Chokecherry in North Dakota. Y. H. Guo, Graduate Student, Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo 58105. J. A. Walla, Research Associate, Department of Plant Pathology; Z.-M. Cheng, Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo 58105; and I.-M. Lee, Research Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS, PSI BARC-West, Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, Beltsville, MD 20705. Plant Dis. 80:95-102. Accepted for publication 27 September 1995. Copyright 1996 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-80-0095. A phytoplasma was observed in diseased chokecherry plants in North Dakota by electron microscopy and identified with a phytoplasma-specific polyclonal antibody and with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of 16S ribosomal DNA (16S rDNA) sequence amplified with the nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The phytoplasma was partially purified directly from infected chokecherry plants for use in raising a polyclonal antibody in mice. The specificity of the polyclonal antibody against phytoplasma was shown by its reaction with diseased, but not with healthy, chokecherries upon immunofluorescence staining. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated the chokecherry phytoplasma in Keyword(s): phytoplasma purification, Prunus virginiana, serology |