Abbas Davoodi - Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Zabol University, Zabol, Iran.
Naser Panjehkeh - Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Zabol University, Zabol, Iran.
Cobra Moslemkhani - Seed and Plant Certification and Registration Institute, AREEO, Karaj, Iran.
Abdolhossein Taheri - Faculty of Plant Production, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran.

Pepper Capsicum annuum is one of the important vegetable crops in Iran, especially north of Iran. Various symptoms of stolbur, including limited growth, small and chlorotic leaves, spoon-shaped leaflets, and sterility or fruit alterations, were detected in samples collected from the pepper field in Qazvin province. DNA was extracted from midribs and petioles of pepper leaves using CTAB-based methods. The phytoplasma in all symptomatic pepper plant parts was detected by direct and nested polymerase chain reactions (PCR) using primer pairs P۱/P۷ and R۱۶F۲n/R۱۶R۲. The ۱۶S rDNA sequences of phytoplasma isolate were deposited in GenBank (MN۸۷۷۹۱۶). Based on phylogenetic studies of the ۱۶S rDNA region, the results of enzymatic digestion of the fragment obtained by amplification with R۱۶F۲n/R۱۶R۲ primer and virtual RFLP, phytoplasma agent associated with stolbur pepper disease was detected to belong to ۱۶SrXII group and ۱۶XII-A subgroup. According to our knowledge, this is the first report of pepper stolbur disease in Iran.

۱۶SrXII-A, RFLP, Stolbur, Pepper, Phytoplasma