Resistance to Tospoviruses in Vegetable Crops: Epidemiological and Molecular Aspects

Abstract

During the past three decades, the economic impact of tospoviruses has increased, causing high yield losses in a variety of crops and ornamentals. Owing to the difficulty in combating thrips vectors with insecticides, the best way to limit/prevent tospovirus-induced diseases involves a management strategy that includes virus resistance. This review briefly presents current tospovirus taxonomy, diversity, molecular biology, and cytopathology as an introduction to a more extensive description of the two main resistance genes employed against tospoviruses: the Sw5 gene in tomato and the Tsw in pepper. Natural and experimental resistance-breaking (RB) isolates allowed the identification of the viral avirulence protein triggering each of the two resistance gene products; epidemiology of RB isolates is discussed to reinforce the need for allelic variants and the need to search for new/alternative resistance genes. Ongoing efforts for alternative resistance strategies are described not only for Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in pepper and tomato but also for other vegetable crops heavily impacted by tospoviruses.

Multi‐targeting of viral RNAs with synthetic trans‐acting small interfering RNAs enhances plant antiviral resistance

“…The economic impact of TSWV has increased during the last decades, causing high yield losses in a variety of plant species, including economically important crops such as tomato and pepper (Turina et al, 2016). Recently, highly specific approaches based on the expression of artificial sRNA transgenes have been reported in model plants such as N. benthamiana or Nicotiana tabacum (Mitter et al, 2016;.…”

Leading Molecular Aspects of Plant Viruses

“…They are transmitted by thrips and are one of the most important plant virus groups infecting a wide range of economically important horticultural crops throughout the world [25,26]. Tospovirus genus belong to Bunyaviridae family, which is a large group of predominantly animal-infecting viruses [27].…”

Biological and molecular characterization of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) resistance‐breaking isolates from Argentina

“…The Tsw gene was introgressed from Capsicum chinense to Capsicum annuum (Tsw + cultivars) and confers resistance against tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) but not against groundnut ringspot virus (GRSV) and/or tomato chlorotic spot virus (TCSV) (Jahn et al , ). The Sw‐5b gene has been identified in Solanum peruvianum and provides a broad‐spectrum resistance against TSWV, GRSV and TCSV isolates, and isolates of chrysanthemum stem necrosis virus (CSNV) and Alstroemeria necrotic spot virus (ANSV) (Turina et al , ).…”