Utilization of Changyun Jujube, a Cultivar with Resistance to Witches Broom Disease

In 2021,the Shanting District Fruit Industry Service Center conducted an application test of a treatment for jujube witches broom disease using Changyun jujube.The results demonstrated that when diseased Changhong jujube plants were grafted with Changyun jujube in the spring using bark or cleft grafting,the majority of the new shoots of Changyun jujube exhibited no symptoms of witches broom disease,while a few exhibited symptoms of the disease.With the growth of new shoots,the symptoms of witches broom disease gradually abated,returning to normal growth and development.Similarly,the symptoms of witches broom disease on the rootstock below the grafting mouth also gradually abated,returning to normal.The Changyun jujube rootstock was utilized as the intermediate rootstock to grafting the jujube cultivars Qiyuexian and Fucuimi.The two cultivars were subsequently affixed with branch bark from the witches broom disease.The two cultivars did not exhibit any symptoms of witches broom disease,thus providing an opportunity to investigate potential treatments for this disease in jujube.Finally,the cultivation techniques of the Changyun jujube were presented.

Technical Studies of Controlling Jujube Witches Broom Disease with Resistant Rootstock

[Objectives]The paper was to screen and identify the control effect of resistant rootstock on jujube witches broom disease.[Methods]The seeds or branches of disease-free plants were collected from wild jujube bushes infected by witches broom disease,and 5434 seedlings were obtained by sowing or cutting.The virus was inoculated by grafting diseased bark.After 6 years of preliminary screening,40 plants with resistance to jujube witches broom disease were obtained.Taking these resistant plants as the rootstocks,the susceptible variety‘long red jujube’was grafted at a height of 40 cm.When the plants grew to appropriate thickness,diseased bark was grafted to‘long red jujube’and rootstock to transmit the virus.After 18 years of observation and judgment,4 rootstock strains with high resistance or immunity to jujube witches broom disease were finally determined,namely 90801,90803,90806 and 908011.The susceptible variety‘long red jujube’was grafted to 4 rootstocks and inoculated the virus through diseased bark grafting method.[Results]The resistant rootstock had obvious disease resistance effect.When the branches of 90801 and 90803 rootstocks were grafted to the trunk of diseased trees,the symptoms of jujube witches broom disease gradually alleviated till disappeared.[Conclusions]Using germplasm with high resistance or immunity to jujube witches broom disease as rootstock can effectively prevent the spread of jujube witches broom disease,and bridging the trunk of diseased trees with branches from resistant rootstock has certain therapeutic effect.

Identification and Control of Paulownia fortunei Witches Broom Disease

Pathogen and characteristics,occurrence law,damage symptom of Paulownia fortunei witches broom disease were simply described,and the control method of the disease was summarized.

Spatial pattern of paulownia witches' broom and its effects on the growth of Paulownia elongata in Shaanxi Province,China

The spatial pattern of paulownia witches＇ broom was investigated using an Iwao＇s （m^＊-m） model in Shaanxi Province, China. Iwao＇s （m^＊-m） model revealed that spatial pattern of paulownia witches＇ broom exhibited a uniform distribution in sample plots. In this model, characteristics of contagiousness coefficient （a） justified the probability of infection by virus-transmission vectors. For tree age less than six, susceptible individuals were aggregated as clusters in the plots and then mutually repelled over age. A preliminary survey of stand volume show that from age five to six, stand volumes of disease grade II showed excessive vegetative growth and returned to normal level between ages ten and 11. Loss rate of volume increment with disease grade II decreased, and then returned to raising trend both at grades III and IV. This phenomenon is possibly caused by an over-compensation effect and by environmental factors. The redundancy of growth hormones in branches, shoots, leaves, buds and roots increased the stem volume of entire trees.

Use of random amplified polymorphic DNA （RAPD） analysis to detect jujube witches＇ broom phytoplasmas

Jujube witches＇ broom is a devastating disease of Ziziphusjujube that occurs in various jujube regions of China. Nucleic acid extracted from midribs of samples collected from three jujube varieties （＂Suanzao＂, ＂Lajiaozao＂ and ＂Langzao＂） from symptomatic and asymptomatic shoots were tested by random amplified polymorphic DNA analyses. Using 13 different 10 and 11-bp random primers the amplification of jujube DNA was achieved from all the samples; AMI4 primer provided amplification of specific DNA fragments of about 400 bp, only from samples collected from symptomatic plants. No genetic variations in these varieties were identified using the other 11 arbitrary primers; only with primer AL07 it was possible to differentiate ＂Langzao＂ from the other two varieties tested. All the experiments were repeated 2 times and the results were consistent. Compared with PCR analyses with phytoplasma-specific primers, RAPD techniques resulted to be an alternative rapid and sensitive method for detecting jujube phytoplasmas presence in different jujube varieties.

Identification of the SERK Gene Family in Paulownia fortunei and Its Involvement in the Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses

Somatic embryogenesis receptor-like kinases(SERKs)are receptor-like proteins that contain leucine-rich repeats and are involved in various signaling pathways.This study identified SERK family members in the Paulownia fortunei genome and analyzed their characteristics and expression profiles using bioinformatics methods.We identified 12 SERK genes with relatively conserved gene structures and motifs that were distributed unevenly on eight Paulownia chromosomes.The gene promoters contained various cis-acting elements that regulated the expression of the PfSERK genes in response to hormones and abiotic stresses.Synteny analysis indicated that 10 segmental duplication events had occurred during evolution of the PfSERK family.The expression profile of PfSERKs in various tissues of Paulownia fortunei was detected by quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR).Many PfSERK genes can respond to drought and salt stress.Combined with RNA-seq and protein interaction network,it is speculated that PfSERK3/11 may participate in the occurrence of Paulownia witches’broom(PaWB)by regulating the plant height of Paulownia.

Transgenic Paulownia Expressing shiva-1 Gene Has Increased Resistance to Paulownia Witches＇ Broom Disease

Stem segments from diseased Paulownia tomentosaXP, fortunei and leaves from healthy control were transformed with the expression vector p438PRSI via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The p438PRSI vector contained shiva-1 gene, which encodes an antibacterial peptide under the control of a CaMV35S promoter. The regenerated plants from transformed explants were planted in a greenhouse and nursery. PCR and Southern blotting analysis showed that the shiva-1 gene was successfully integrated into the Paulownia genome. Transcription of the integrated shiva-1 gene was confirmed by RT-PCR. Bioassay in the green house and phytoplasma DNA-dot blotting demonstrated that resistance to Paulownia witch＇s broom disease （PWB） increased significantly in shiva-l-transgenic Paulownia. Further investigations indicated that higher Shiva- 1 expression correlated with fewer phytoplasma and less symptoms in diseased transgenic Paulownia. Together, our findings strongly suggest that breeding shiva-1-Paulownia is an effective strategy to control PWB disease.