Nicolas Quiroga Barrera

• Agricultural Engineer
• PhD Student at University of Chile

In Chile, edible herbs are mainly grown by small farmers. This type of horticultural crop typically requires intensive management because it is highly susceptible to insects, some of which transmit viruses that severely affect crop yield and quality. In 2019, in coriander plants tested negative for all previously reported viruses, RNA-Seq analysis...

The considerable economic losses in citrus associated with ‘Candidatus Liberibacter’ and ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma’ presence have alerted all producing regions of the world. In Chile, none of these bacteria have been reported in citrus species. During the years 2017 and 2019, 258 samples presenting symptoms similar to those associated with the presen...

To date, phytoplasmas belonging to six ribosomal subgroups have been detected to infect grapevines in Chile in 36 percent of the sampled plants. A new survey on the presence of grapevine yellows was carried out from 2016 to 2020, and 330 grapevine plants from the most important wine regions of the country were sampled and analyzed by nested PCR/RFL...

Since the year 2015, strawberry plants with symptoms of phyllody, achenes’ hypertrophy and leaf reddening have been observed in several fields in various regions of Chile. In recent surveys on five individual fields in Biobío and Araucanía regions, samples were collected from symptomatic plants and DNA was extracted. Two genomic regions correspondi...

During spring 2016 commercial lettuce and Swiss chard plants, exhibiting disease symptoms suggestive of possible phytoplasma infection, were collected together with asymptomatic plants in Metropolitana and Arica y Parinacota regions of Chile, respectively. Nucleic acids extracted from leaf midribs were used for phytoplasmas detection. Nested polyme...

Stone fruits rank third among the most important crop species in Chile, after grapevine and apple. Specifically, cherry (Prunus avium L.) cultivation have increased during the last 10 years, making of Chile the most important exporter in the Southern hemisphere. Nineteen cherry samples collected in the spring of 2016 were subjected to high-throughp...

Chile is free of the “flavescence dorée” disease and its vector Scaphoideus titanus. Given the importance of viticulture industry in the country, it is fundamental to know which could be the consequences in case of accidental insect introduction in the Country. The potential distribution of the vector was evaluated through a model using the BIOCLIM...

Pear decline (PD) is one of the most devastating diseases that affects pear trees and it has been detected in the Mediterranean basin and in the United States. The causal agent is ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pyri’ (‘Ca. P. pyri’), belonging to the apple proliferation group (16SrX), ribosomal subgroup C. Cacopsylla pyri L. has been found as the main vec...

Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 2 (GLRaV-2) is prevalent in Chile but no information is available on the genetic variability of Chilean isolates. Three genomic regions, i.e. a partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene, the complete coat protein (CP) gene and a partial p19 gene fragment, of eleven Chilean isolates were used for phylogenet...

Due to the sporadic occurrence of yellow wilt of sugar beet disease throughout the last three years, a survey was carried out in two regions where the Chilean sugar beet production is concentrated. The tuf and 16S rRNA genes were used for phytoplasma detection and identification. Virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses, cloning, a...

In a pear orchard of variety d'Anjou located in Maule Region (Chile) several Galega officinalis L. plants exhibited yellowing leaves. Nested polymerase chain reaction assays, using phytoplasma universal primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R2 detected phytoplasmas in 100% of symptomatic samples. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses, cloning,...

The most common insect in Chilean phytoplasma-infected vineyards, belonging to the family Cicadellidae, is Paratanus exitiosus (Beamer). This leafhopper was proved to be able to transmit the 16SrIII-J phytoplasma to periwinkle plants. In the present work we demonstrate that P. exitiosus transmits the same phytoplasma to grapevine plants too.

One of the most common insects in vineyards infected with phytoplasmas belonging to the family Cicadellidae, is Bergallia valdiviana Berg 1881 This leafhopper has not yet been described as a phytoplasma vector. The present work demonstrates that B. valdiviana is able to transmit phytoplasmas to periwinkle plants.