Rapid diagnosis of apple proliferation mycoplasma‐like organism using a polymerase chain reaction procedure

The rapid diagnosis of apple proliferation mycoplasma‐like organism, using polymerase chain reaction amplification of part of the 16S rRNA gene is reported. Apple proliferation MLO can be detected in as little as 0·3 g of diseased tissue. Results compare favourably with those obtained by other PCR‐based methods. Operational speed, sensitivity, specificity and ease of performance of the method, with particular reference to indexing purposes, are discussed.