Characterization of Sugarcane Mosaic Disease and Its Management with PGPR

Fig mosaic virus (FMV), a negative-strand RNA virus, is recognized as a causal agent of fig mosaic disease. We performed RT-PCR for 14 FMV isolates collected from symptomatic fig plants in Japan and Serbia using primers corresponding to the conserved 13 nt stretches found at the termini of FMV genomic segments. The resulting simultaneous amplification of all FMV genomic segments yielded four previously identified segments of FMV and two novel segments. These novel FMV genomic RNA segments were found in each of the 14 FMV isolates analysed. In Northern blot studies, both the sense and antisense strands of these novel RNA molecules accumulated in FMV-infected fig leaves but not in uninfected fig leaves, confirming that they replicate as FMV genomic segments. Sequence analysis showed that the novel RNA segments are similar, in their structural organization and molecular evolutionary patterns, to those of known FMV genomic RNA segments. Our findings thus indicate that these newly discovered RNA segments are previously unidentified FMV genomic segments, which we have designated RNA5 and RNA6.

Download Full-text

Recombination, pseudorecombination and synergism of geminiviruses are determinant keys to the epidemic of severe cassava mosaic disease in Uganda

Journal of General Virology ◽

10.1099/0022-1317-82-3-655 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 82 (3) ◽

pp. 655-665 ◽

Cited By ~ 207

Author(s):

J. S. Pita ◽

V. N. Fondong ◽

A. Sangaré ◽

G. W. Otim-Nape ◽

S. Ogwal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mosaic Virus ◽

Mosaic Disease ◽

African Cassava Mosaic Virus ◽

Cassava Mosaic Disease ◽

East African ◽

Recombinant Fragment ◽

Complete Sequences ◽

Natural Recombination ◽

Cassava Mosaic Virus

The molecular variability of cassava geminiviruses occurring in Uganda was investigated in this study. Infected cassava plants and whiteflies were collected from cassava plantings in different geographical areas of the country and PCR was used for molecular characterization of the viruses. Two complete sequences of DNA-A and -B from African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV), two DNA-A sequences from East African cassava mosaic virus (EACMV), two DNA-B sequences of EACMV and the partial DNA-A nucleotide sequence of a new virus strain isolated in Uganda, EACMV-UG3, are reported here. Analysis of naturally infected cassava plants showed various assortments of DNA-A and DNA-B of the Ugandan viruses, suggesting the occurrence of natural inter- and intraspecies pseudorecombinations and a pattern of cassava mosaic disease (CMD) more complex than previously reported. EACMV-UG2 DNA-A, which contains a recombinant fragment between ACMV and EACMV-UG1 in the coat protein gene that resembles virus from Tanzania, was widespread in the country and always associated with EACMV-UG3 DNA-B, which probably resulted from another natural recombination event. Mixed infections of ACMV-UG and EACMV-UG in cassava and whiteflies were detected in most of the regions where both viruses occurred. These mixed-infected samples always showed extremely severe CMD symptoms, suggesting a synergistic interaction between ACMV-UG and EACMV-UG2. The first demonstration is provided of infectivity of EACMV clones to cassava, proving conclusively that the pseudorecombinant EACMV-UG2 DNA-A+EACMV-UG3 DNA-B is a causal agent of CMD in Uganda.

Download Full-text