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A survey was conducted over several years in Italy and the Balkans in order to gain an understanding of the relationship between the Flavescence dorée (FD) phytoplasma isolates found in clematis and grapevine. A total of 399 clematis and 107 grapevine samples were analyzed. The results showed that 36% of the Clematis vitalba plant samples were infected by phytoplasmas which, in grapevine, are associated with FD, a quarantine disease in Europe. Infected clematis plants were also found in areas where FD phytoplasma had never previously been reported to infect grapevine, such as Macedonia, Croatia and some areas of Italy and Serbia. Molecular data from three phytoplasma genomic fragments showed the presence of different FD phytoplasma isolates, all belonging to the 16SrV-C subgroup, including the Italian FD-C isolate, the isolate found in Serbia, an isolate similar to the French FD2000 and a new isolate typical of central Italy. A few clematis plants were infected with single nucleotide polymorphism, insertion or deletion mutants of the FD-C isolate. Of all the potential Hemipteran vector species surveyed in Italy and Serbia, only 18 of 527 Dictyophara europaea individuals tested proved to be infected with the FD phytoplasma. Preliminary transmission experiments showed that this species is able to transmit the FD phytoplasma from clematis to grapevine. The presence of FD-infected clematis and of D. europaea could, therefore, constitute a risk for FD epidemics in the European viticultural regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between phytoplasma and grapevine at the physiological level is still poorly understood, as are plant defence mechanisms against the pathogen. This study investigates the level of gene expression of three selected genes in a large number of grapevine plants belonging to six disease/cultivar groups (healthy Chardonnay, Bois noir-infected Chardonnay, Flavescence dorée-infected Barbera and Prosecco, and recovered Barbera and Prosecco). All plants were grown in vineyards in uncontrolled conditions in order to represent the physiology of disease as accurately as possible. Sucrose synthase was significantly upregulated in infected plants of all cultivars with the lowest P-values in cvs Chardonnay and Prosecco ( P < 0·001) and median fold-change around 2. This clearly indicates that carbohydrate metabolism changed in infected compared to healthy or recovered plants. Alcohol dehydrogenase I was significantly upregulated in infected relative to healthy Chardonnay plants ( P < 0·05) indicating that alcoholic fermentation, a sign of hypoxic conditions, was induced in infected plants. Heat shock protein 70 was upregulated in infected compared to recovered plants only in cv. Prosecco. Linear discriminant analysis showed that classification of samples into disease status groups based on gene expression was highly accurate (82%), indicating that the response of field-grown plants to phytoplasma infection at the level of expression of selected genes was so intensive and uniform that it was possible to detect it in grapevine plants regardless of natural variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]