0000000000414995

AUTHOR

Gian Paolo Accotto

First report of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus affecting zucchini squash in an important horticultural area of southern Italy

Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) is a bipartite begomovirus (family Geminiviridae) which infects species in the families Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae (Padidam et al., 1995; Mizutani et al., 2011). Begomoviruses are transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a persistent manner (Rosen et al., 2015). In October 2015, severe symptoms not previously reported by growers in the horticultural area of the Province of Trapani (Sicily, Italy) were observed on zucchini squash (Cucurbita pepo) in open fields. The symptoms included yellow mosaic, severe leaf curling, swelling of veins of young leaves, shortening of internodes, roughness of the skin of fruit and reduced fruit size; the sympt…

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Basil (Ocimum basilicum), a new host of Pepino mosaic virus.

Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), a member of the genus Potexvirus , was first described in 1980 on pepino ( Solanum muricatum ) and was later isolated from different wild species of the genus Solanum (formerly Lycopersicon ) (Soler et al ., 2002). PepMV has been reported in several European countries and in North America, causing disease in tomato. In July 2008, plants of basil ( Ocimum basilicum ) showing interveinal chlorosis on young leaves were observed in three greenhouses in Sicily, in the area where tomato plants were found to be infected by PepMV in 2005 (Davino et al ., 2006). The disease was transmitted mechanically to Nicotiana benthamiana , producing chlorotic spots and leaf deforma…

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Recombination profiles between Tomato yellow leaf curl virus and Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus in laboratory and field conditions: evolutionary and taxonomic implications

Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus and Tomato yellow leaf curl virus have co-existed in Italian tomato crops since 2002 and have reached equilibrium, with plants hosting molecules of both species plus their recombinants being the most frequent case. Recombination events are studied in field samples, as well as in experimental co-infections, when recombinants were detected as early as 45 days following inoculation. In both conditions, recombination breakpoints were essentially absent in regions corresponding to ORFs V2, CP and C4, whereas density was highest in the 3′-terminal portion of ORF C3, next to the region where the two transcription units co-terminate. The vast majority of brea…

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The complete nucleotide sequence of an isolate of Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus found in Sicily

Partial sequences of Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (TYLCSV) derived from tomato samples collected in Sicily in 1999, 2002 and 2004 indicated the presence of a TYLCSV different from the one previously described as the Sic strain. Here, we report a complete DNA sequence that is classified as belonging to the TYLCSV type strain (Sar strain), confirming the co-existence in Sicily of virus populations of both strains. Moreover, comparisons between this new sequence and those of the two recombinants recently described in Sicily revealed unequivocally (99% identity) that their TYLCSV-derived portion originated from the Sar strain. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

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