Phytoplasma detection in tissue culture of Gladiolus plants grown under various conditions

To test whether phytoplasmas are sensitive to temperature, phytoplasma affected micropropagated gladiolus plants were grown under varying conditions of media content and temperature, in the presence or absence of light. PCR analysis indicated that phytoplasma detection was more successful in plants grown at low temperatures. Plants kept from one to three months at reduced temperature tended to have higher titre of phytoplasma than the plants maintained in stable 20 degreesC high temperature. The best detection was in plants grown on medium containing kinetin+NAA and in the presence of light. In those plants phytoplasmas were detected in direct PCR after one month of culture.