Investigations on the Prevalence of Two Sweet Potato Viruses and their Potential Weed Reservoirs in Egypt

Abstract

G LOBALLY, sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam., family Convolvulaceae), is an important vegetable crop, unluckily, the viral infection induces a significant yield loss. The current study aims to identify the viruses infecting sweet potato in Egypt and highlights the role of the interfacing weeds as viruses reservoir. The study covered both of transmission, host range, inclusion bodies, virus morphology, histopathology, serological diagnosis, genome identification using RT-PCR and multiplex RT-PCR. The results revealed that the potyviruses sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) and sweet potato virus G (SPVG) are the most devastating viruses affecting sweet potato in Egypt. Coinfection with of both viruses was the common feature in both of sweet potato and its interfacing weeds. A wider host range in families Convolvulaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Euphorbiaceae, was detected. The infection symptoms on sweet potato were comparable to that detected in the interfaced weeds. The infection-incidence in perennial Convolvulaceae and Tiliaceae weed-species showed 100% virus incidence. The characteristic amorphous inclusion bodies for the detected viruses and the cytopathological alterations on the host cells were observed under Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The nucleotide sequences of the partial coat protein gene of the detected viruses were compared to the isolate available in GenBank. This work recommends the importance of weed interfacing crops as virus reservoir, and in light, the importance of multidisciplinary research work to resolve the virus problems threats in potential crops. Identifying viruses and their incidence increase the efficiency of the management strategies to control the virus spread.

Viral disease control in strawberry plants: A potential impact of green nanotechnology

“…The data of bioactive constituents in the current study revealed that SMYEV infection showed a remarkable increase in phenols, indoles, total flavonoids and percentage of acidity in the fruit juice as citric acid. These results were in agreement with those obtained by Mazyad et al (2014) on strawberry plants infected with Strawberry latent ringspot virus (SLRSV). Also, El-Shazly et al (2016) found that Tomato spotted wilt virus infection increased total titratable acidity in infected tomato fruit compared to healthy plants.…”

“…This indicates that infection with the virus affects postharvest quality preservation, based on the observation of Rekika et al (2005). Mazyad et al (2014) recorded a noticeable decrease in total anthocyanin and vitamin C contents by SLRSV infection on strawberry fruits. Moreover, Shafie (2019) reported that Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus infection significantly decreased the entire anthocyanin content in the sepals of infected roselle plants.…”

A Comparative Analysis of Polysaccharides and Ethanolic Extracts from Two Egyptian Sweet Potato Cultivars, Abees and A 195: Chemical Characterization and Immunostimulant Activities

“…Additionally, there has been very little research on the medicinal value of Egyptian SP cultivars. Thus, our aim was to explore the biological activity and medicinal value of SP, hoping to highlight the promising potential of SP as a cheap, available functional food in the Egyptian market [8]. The importance of SP in the human diet has traditionally been a supply of carbohydrates.…”