Sweet pepper confirmed as a reservoir host for tomato yellow leaf curl virus by both agro-inoculation and whitefly-mediated inoculation

Abstract

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.

Overview of Biotic Stresses in Pepper (Capsicum spp.): Sources of Genetic Resistance, Molecular Breeding and Genomics

“…Pepper leaf curl virus (PepLCV) has been reported in India, United States, Nigeria and several other countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia [184]. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is one of the most devastating plant viruses of tomato whereas in other crops such as cucurbits and peppers is asymptomatic [185]. The virus has been reported on pepper crops in some areas of the Mediterranean basin [186,187].…”

Seed Transmission of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus in White Soybean (Glycine max)

“…Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a begomovirus that causes severe economic loss due to decreased crop production in tropical and subtropical regions ( Czosnek and Laterrot, 1997 ; Moriones and Navas-Castillo, 2000 ). In Korea, TYLCV has circulated consistently across the country since its outbreak in 2008 ( Kil et al, 2014a ; Lee et al, 2010 ). TYLCV has a circular single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genome about 2.8 kb in length, which is encapsidated in a twinned icosahedral virion ( Moriones and Navas-Castillo, 2000 ).…”

“…TYLCV-infected tomato plants exhibit severe symptoms such as curling and yellowing of young leaves and stunting, causing critical production loss in tomato cultivation ( Papayiannis et al, 2011 ). In addition to tomato, other cultivated crops such as hot and sweet peppers ( Capsicum annuum ), cucurbit ( Cucumis species), eustoma ( Eustoma grandiflora ), and the common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) have been identified as TYLCV hosts, as well as some weeds ( Anfoka et al, 2009 ; Cohen et al, 1995 ; Kil et al, 2014a , 2014b , 2015 ; Moriones and Navas-Castillo, 2000 ; Navas-Castillo et al, 1999 ; Reina et al, 1999 ).…”

“…One aim of this study was to confirm soybean ( G. max ) is a TYLCV host, as mentioned in a previous study ( Kil et al, 2014b ). Five cultivars of white soybean (‘Jinpung,’ ‘Taegwang,’ ‘Seonpung,’ ‘Neulchan,’ and ‘Daepung’) were agro-inoculated using an infectious TYLCV clone prepared in a previous study ( Kil et al, 2014a ) and cultivated in an isolated plant cultivation chamber in Wanju in 2015 ( Fig. 1A ).…”

“…1A ). One month after inoculation, DNA was extracted using a Viral Gene-spin™ Viral DNA/RNA Extraction Kit (iNtRON Biotechnology, Seongnam, Korea) from leaf samples of 20 inoculated soybean plants, as described previously ( Kil et al, 2014a ). The extracted DNA was analyzed by PCR using 1 × AccuPower ® PCR Master Mix (Bioneer, Daejeon, Korea) with TYLCV-specific primer sets.…”