Identification and characterization of Pepino mosaic potexvirus in tomato

Abstract

At the beginning of 1999, a new virus disease occurred in protected tomato crops in The Netherlands. Initial diagnostic tests revealed the presence of a potexvirus but serological tests ruled out the presence of Potato X potexvirus (PVX). Tests for other potexviruses reported from solanaceous crops provisionally identified the virus as Pepino mosaic potexvirus (PepMV). The virus was purified, and an antiserum was produced, which showed strong reactions with both the type isolate of PepMV from pepino and two other isolates from tomato. Host range and symptomatology of the pepino and tomato isolates of PepMV revealed clear differences from PVX. However, differences were also observed between the pepino and tomato isolates of PepMV. Sequence alignment of DNA fragments of 584 bp derived from the RNA polymerase cistron showed almost 95% identity with the pepino isolate, whereas the identity with PVX appeared to be < 60%. Together, these results identified PepMV as the causal agent of the new virus disease in tomato. Based on the differences from the type isolate from pepino (Solanum muricatum), the isolates from tomato should be considered as a distinct strain of PepMV for which the name tomato strain is proposed.

Host range and symptomatology of Pepino mosaic virus strains occurring in Europe

“…Black Beauty show that symptom development is dependent on both locality and virus type. Variation in symptom development was also reported by Papayiannis et al (2012), who found no symptoms in Cyprus with EU-tom and Ch2 group isolates; by Salomone and Roggero (2002) reporting local and systemic symptoms in Italy with an EU-tom group isolate; by van der Vlugt et al (2002) finding no local, but systemic symptoms by an EU-tom group isolate in the Netherlands; and by Pospieszny et al (2008) finding systemic symptoms in Poland by an EU-tom and Ch2 group isolate.…”

“…Isolates from three PepMV strains were included in the trials: 1) isolate PD99901066 belonging to the EU-tom strain (Van der Vlugt et al 2002), 2) isolate PCH06/104 belonging to the Ch2 strain (Hanssen et al 2008), and 3) isolate US1-PRI (US1 strain). The isolates were distributed to different laboratories as freeze dried leaf material of PepMV infected N. benthamiana.…”

“…Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) was first reported in Europe in the late 1990s (Wright and Mumford 1999;van der Vlugt et al 2000), and has been regarded as a threat to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) crops in several European countries ever since. PepMV was first described infecting pepino (S. muricatum) in Peru (Jones et al 1980), and as such was neither regarded as a serious pathogen nor as an emerging one for other crop species.…”

“…PepMV was first described infecting pepino (S. muricatum) in Peru (Jones et al 1980), and as such was neither regarded as a serious pathogen nor as an emerging one for other crop species. This scene, however, changed in 1999 when PepMV was detected infecting tomato crops in the main tomato growing areas in the Netherlands and Great Britain (Wright and Mumford 1999;van der Vlugt et al 2000). PepMV was later detected in most European countries.…”

“…PepMV causes a variety of symptoms in tomato ( Van der Vlugt et al 2000;Hanssen et al 2009). PepMV has also been found to infect several other solanaceous crops and test plants like Datura stramonium, Nicotiana benthamiana, Physalis floridana, S. melongena (eggplant) and S. tuberosum (potato).…”