Abstract
The presence of phytoplasma in diseased banana plants exhibiting acute stunting symptoms was detected by the polymerase chain reaction using a primer set specific for the 16SrRNA gene of phytoplasma. The amplified DNA fragments of 1500 bp were cloned in pGEMT-Easy plasmid cloning vector and sequenced. The BLASTN and phylogenetic analyses revealed the infecting agents to be the closely related members of the 'Candidatus phytoplasma asteris' (16Sr l-Aster yellow) group.