Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is one of the most well-known tomato-infecting begomoviruses and transmitted by Bemisia tabaci. Seed transmission has previously been reported for some RNA viruses, but TYLCV has not previously been described as a seed-borne virus. In 2013 and 2014, without whitefly-mediated transmission, TYLCV was detected in young tomato plants germinated from fallen fruits produced from TYLCV-infected tomato plants in the previous cultivation season. In addition, TYLCV-Israel (TYLCV-IL) was also detected in seeds and their seedlings of TYLCV-infected tomato plants that were infected by both viruliferous whitefly-mediated transmission and agro-inoculation. The seed infectivity was 20–100%, respectively, and the average transmission rate to seedlings was also 84.62% and 80.77%, respectively. TYLCV-tolerant tomatoes also produced TYLCV-infected seeds, but the amount of viral genome was less than seen in TYLCV-susceptible tomato plants. When tomato plants germinated from TYLCV-infected seeds, non-viruliferous whiteflies and healthy tomato plants were placed in an insect cage together, TYLCV was detected from whiteflies as well as receiver tomato plants six weeks later. Taken together, TYLCV-IL can be transmitted via seeds, and tomato plants germinated from TYLCV-infected seeds can be an inoculum source of TYLCV. This is the first report about TYLCV seed transmission in tomato.

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Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), a member of the genus Begomovirus, has a single-stranded DNA genome. TYLCV can induce severe disease symptoms on tomato plants, but other hosts plants such as cucurbits and peppers are asymptomatic. A full-length DNA clone of a Korean TYLCV isolate was constructed by rolling-circle amplification from TYLCV-infected tomatoes in Korea. To assess relative susceptibility of sweet pepper varieties to TYLCV, 19 cultivars were inoculated with cloned TYLCV by agro-inoculation. All TYLCV-infected sweet peppers were asymptomatic, even though Southern hybridization and polymerase chain reaction analysis showed TYLCV genomic DNA accumulation in roots, stems, and newly produced shoots. Southern hybridization indicated that TYLCV replicated and moved systemically from agro-inoculated apical shoot tips to roots or newly produced shoots of sweet peppers. Whitefly-mediated inoculation experiments showed that TYLCV can be transmitted to tomatoes from TYLCV-infected sweet peppers. Taken together, these results indicate that sweet pepper can be a reservoir for TYLCV in nature.

S. 2015. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus can overwinter in Stellaria aquatica, a winter-hardy TYLCV-reservoir weed. Plant Dis. 99:588-592.Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), one of the most serious plant viruses in tropical and subtropical regions, is transmitted to host plants by the vector insect Bemisia tabaci. In order to control TYLCV, it is important to identify weed hosts for overwintering TYLCV. Stellaria aquatica, a winterhardy weed, was found growing with TYLCV-infected tomato plants in greenhouse production. TYLCV was detected in S. aquatica plants by poly merase chain reaction and Southern blot hybridization analysis. The intergenic region nucleotide sequences amplified from TYLCVinfected tomato plants, TYLCV-viruliferous whiteflies, and S. aquatica were identical. During winter (December to February), TYLCV-viruliferous whiteflies and TYLCV-infected tomato plants were removed or absent from greenhouses. However, S. aquatica plants were observed over a period of 10 months from August to May in such greenhouses, and TYLCV was con sistently detected in some of these plants. To investigate the transmission of TYLCV from TYLCV-infected S. aquatica plants to healthy tomato plants by whiteflies, TYLCV-infected S. aquatica plants were transplanted to pots in cages with nonviruliferous whiteflies and healthy tomato plants. After 4 weeks, tomato plants developed typical TYLCV disease symptoms, and TYLCV was detected in both whiteflies and tomato plants. These results show that 5. aquatica can act as a winter-hardy reservoir for TYLCV, and suggest that this weed could play an important role in over wintering of TYLCV in tomato greenhouses.

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