scholarly journals First Report of Pepper mottle virus in Tomato

Plant Disease ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Th. J. Verhoeven ◽  
T. M. Willemen ◽  
J. W. Roenhorst

In 2000, a breeding company submitted a tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) sample from Guatemala for diagnosis. The plants showed necrotic lesions on leaves surrounded by some chlorosis, necrotic streaks on stems, and large superficial necrotic lesions on fruits. By mechanical inoculation of plant sap to different plant species, symptoms appeared in Capsicum annuum ‘Westlandse Grote Zoete’, Lycopersicon esculentum ‘Money-maker’, Nicotiana benthamiana, N. bigelovii, N. glutinosa, N. hesperis-67A, N. occidentalis-P1, N. tabacum ‘White Burley’, and Physalis floridana. Systemically infected leaves from N. occidentalis-P1 were used for all further experiments. Leaf dip preparations were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy and revealed the presence of filamentous virus particles typical of a potyvirus. Double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests for Potato virus A, V, and Y, Tobacco etch virus, and Wild potato mosaic virus were negative. An antiserum (PepMoV/DSMZ As 0186) to Pepper mottle virus (PepMoV), however, gave a positive reaction. To obtain further evidence for the presence of this virus, the nucleotide sequence of the complete 3′ nontranslated region (3NTR) and the 3′ terminal part of the coat protein gene (3CPG) was determined using the set of degenerate primers P9502/CPUP (1). The obtained nucleotide sequence (approximately 700 bp) was deposited in GenBank under Accession No. AF440801. It showed 93 to 94% 3NTR and 90 to 93% 3CPG homology with the three sequences of PepMoV from pepper already present in GenBank. The two viruses with the next closest nucleotide sequence homology were Potato virus V and Potato virus Y showing up to 80 and 75% homology with the 3CPG and up to 53 and 48% homology with the 3NTR, respectively. Based on these results, we concluded that the virus isolated from the symptomatic tomato plants was PepMoV. Because of the relatively low homologies with the pepper isolates of PepMoV, this tomato isolate might be a separate strain of the virus. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the occurrence of PepMoV in tomato. Reference: (1) R. A. A. van der Vlugt et al. Phytopathology 89:148, 1999.

Plant Disease ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 428-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Valverde ◽  
G. Lozano ◽  
J. Navas-Castillo ◽  
A. Ramos ◽  
F. Valdés

Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV), family Closteroviridae and Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), family Potyviridae are whitefly and aphid transmitted, respectively, which in double infections cause sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) that is a serious sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) disease in Africa (2). During the past decade, sweet potato plants showing symptoms similar to SPVD have been observed in most areas of Spain. Nevertheless, not much information is available about the identity of the viruses infecting this crop in Spain. During the summer of 2002, sweet potato plants with foliar mosaic, stunting, leaf malformation, chlorosis, and ringspot symptoms were observed in several farms in Málaga (southern Spain) and Tenerife and Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain). Vine cuttings were collected from 21 symptomatic plants in Málaga and from eight plants on Lanzarote and six on Tenerife. Scions were grafted to the indicator hosts, Brazilian morning glory (I. setosa) and I. nil cv. Scarlett O'Hara. Three weeks after graft inoculations, all plants showed various degrees of mosaic, chlorosis, leaf malformation, and stunting. Four field collections (two from Málaga, one from Tenerife, and one from Lanzarote) with severe symptoms on I. setosa were selected for whitefly (Bemisia tabaci biotype Q) transmission experiments. Acquisition and transmission periods were 48 h. I. setosa was the acquisition host, and I. nil was the transmission host. For each isolate, groups of 10 whiteflies per I. nil plant were used. All I. nil plants used as transmission hosts with the four, field collections showed chlorosis and leaf malformation. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed on I. setosa (grafted with the four selected field collections) and I. nil plants (from the whitefly transmission experiments) with primers for the HSP70h gene of SPCSV. A 450-bp DNA fragment was obtained with all I. setosa and I. nil samples. Sequencing of the 450-bp DNA from two samples from Málaga yielded a nucleotide sequence with 98 to 99% similarity to the HSP70h gene of West African SPCSV isolates. Foliar samples from I. setosa, originally grafted with the 21 vine cuttings, were used for nitrocellulose membrane enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (NCM-ELISA) testing with antiserum specific to SPFMV-RC (provided by J. Moyer, North Carolina State University, Raleigh). Positive control was sap extract from I. setosa that was infected with the common strain of SPFMV. Procedures for NCM-ELISA were as described (4). NCM-ELISA testing suggested that SPFMV was present in all samples. RT-PCR was conducted with degenerate primers POT1/POT2 (1). The nucleotide sequence that was amplified by these two primers spans part of the NIb protein and part of the coat protein gene of potyviruses. All samples yielded the expected 1.3-kb DNA. Sequencing of the RT-PCR products of two isolates from Malaga and sequence comparisons yielded nucleotide sequences with 97% similarity to two East African isolates (Nam 1 and Nam 3) of SPFMV (3). These results confirm the presence of SPCSV and SPFMV in sweet potato in Spain. References: (1) D. Colinet and J. Kummert. J. Virol. Methods 45:149, 1993. (2) R. W. Gibson et al. Plant Pathol. 47:95, 1998. (3) J. F. Kreuze et al. Arch. Virol. 145:567, 2000. (4) E. R. Souto et al. Plant Dis. 87:1226, 2003.


Plant Disease ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 88 (8) ◽  
pp. 909-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Komorowska ◽  
M. Cieślińska

Cherry virus A (CVA), a member of the genus Capillovirus, has been reported in sweet cherry in Germany, Canada, and Great Britain. No data are available on the effects of CVA on fruit quality and yield of infected trees. Little cherry disease (LChD) occurs in most cherry growing areas of the world. Symptoms on sensitive cultivars include discolored fruit that remain small, pointed in shape, and tasteless. Three Closterovirus spp. associated with LChD have been described (Little cherry virus-1 [LChV-1], LChV-2, and LChV-3). Diseased local and commercial cultivars of sour cherry trees were found in a Prunus sp. germplasm collection and orchards in Poland during the 2003 growing season. The foliar symptoms included irregular, chlorotic mottling, distortion, and premature falling of leaves. Some of the diseased trees developed rosette as a result of decreased growth and shortened internodes. Severely infected branches exhibited dieback symptoms. Because the symptoms were suggestive of a possible virus infection, leaf samples were collected from 38 trees and assayed for Prune dwarf virus and Prunus necrotic ringspot virus using double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA). RNA extracted from leaves was used in a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with the One-Step RT-PCR with Platinum Taq (Invitrogen Life Technologies) and primer sets specific for CVA (1), LChV-1 (3), and LChV-2 (3). The RNA samples were also tested using RT-PCR for detection of Cherry mottle leaf virus (CMLV), Cherry necrotic rusty mottle virus (CNRMV), and Cherry green ring mottle virus (CGRMV) with specific primer sets (2). Amplification of a 397-bp coat protein gene product confirmed infection of 15 trees with CVA. A 419-bp fragment corresponding to the coat protein gene of LChV-1 was amplified from cv. Gisela rootstock and local cv. WVIII/1. To confirm RT-PCR results, CVA amplification products from local cv. WX/5 and LChV-1 from cvs. Gisela and WVIII/1 were cloned in bacterial vector pCR 2.1-TOPO and then sequenced. The sequences were analyzed with the Lasergene (DNASTAR, Madison, WI) computer program. The alignment indicated that the nucleotide sequence of cv. WX/5 was closely related to the published sequences of CVA (Genbank Accession No. NC_003689) and had an 89% homology to the corresponding region. The nucleotide sequence similarity between the 419-bp fragment obtained from cvs. Gisela and WVIII/1 was 87% and 91%, respectively, compared with the reference isolate of LChV-1 (Genbank Accession No. NC_001836). The sampled trees tested negative for LChV-2, CGRMV, CMLV, and CNRMV using RT-PCR. Some trees tested positive for PNRSV and PDV. To our knowledge, this is the first report of CVA and LChV-1 in Poland. References: (1) D. James and W. Jelkmann. Acta Hortic. 472:299, 1998. (2) M. E. Rott and W. Jelkmann. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 107:411,2001. (3) M. E. Rott and W. Jelkmann. Phytopathology. 91:61, 2001.


Plant Disease ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 95 (5) ◽  
pp. 617-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. H. Cheng ◽  
T. C. Deng ◽  
C. C. Chen ◽  
J. Y. Liao ◽  
C. A. Chang ◽  
...  

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) plants exhibiting systemic mild mosaic, vein yellowing, and leaf malformation were collected from Puli City in 2006. Double-antibody sandwich (DAS)-ELISA was used to test these samples for Chilli veinal mottle virus (ChiVMV) infection using polyclonal antibodies. In addition, Chenopodium quinoa, C. amaranticolor, and Nicotiana benthamiana plants were mechanically inoculated with sap extracted from collected samples. Ten days postinoculation, chlorotic local lesions were observed on inoculated leaves of C. quinoa and C. amaranticolor plants, whereas, systemic mosaic and foliar distortion symptoms were developed on upper leaves of N. benthamiana plants. The DAS-ELISA test showed that field-collected pepper samples and inoculated leaves of C. quinoa and C. amaranticolor were infected with ChiVMV, while N. benthamiana with mosaic symptoms did not react with ChiVMV antibodies. To confirm ChiVMV, field-collected samples as well as mechanically inoculated plants were tested by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR using the potyvirus degenerate primers Hrp5/Pot1 (2). Amplified RT-PCR products were cloned and sequenced. Sequence analysis of amplified fragments (1.4 kb) revealed that field-collected pepper samples were infected with ChiVMV and Pepper mottle virus (PepMoV). The DNA fragment amplified from C. quinoa and C. amaranticolor showed high (99.2%) sequence identities with the CP gene of ChiVMV (3) (GenBank Accession No. AM909717). However, amplicons obtained from N. benthamiana plants (GenBank Accession No. HQ329082) that showed mosaic symptoms showed 83.6% to 98.7% nucleotide identities with PepMoV (GenBank Accession Nos. AB126033, AF227728, AF440801, AF501591, EU586133, and M96425). Next, a pure isolate of PepMoV was established on N. benthamiana by mechanical inoculation of diluted plant sap obtained from a PepMoV-infected N. benthamiana plant. Bell pepper plants inoculated with the Taiwan isolate of PepMoV developed mosaic and leaf distortion symptoms. Antiserum against the PepMoV Taiwan isolate was subsequently prepared by immunizing rabbits with purified virus particles. Using the prepared antiserum and specific primers (1) to detect PepMoV, ChiVMV, and Pepper veinal mottle virus (PVMV), three viruses could be readily detected and differentiated from diseased bell peppers in the field. In a survey done in 2007, 18 of 33 pepper samples from southern Taiwan were found with mixed infections of PepMoV and ChiVMV, seven samples were infected with PepMoV and PVMV, five samples were infected with PVMV, and another three samples were infected with ChiVMV. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the occurrence of PepMoV in bell peppers in Taiwan. References: (1) Y. H. Cheng et al. Plant Dis. 93:107, 2009. (2) S. S. Pappu et al. Plant Dis. 82:1121, 1998. (3) W. S. Tsai et al. Plant Pathol. 58:408, 2008.


Plant Disease ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 87 (12) ◽  
pp. 1538-1538 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.-Y. Liu ◽  
J. L. Sears ◽  
M. Bandla ◽  
A. M. Harness ◽  
B. Kulemeka

Calibrachoa mottle virus (CbMV), a tentative carmovirus, was first isolated and reported by Liu et al. (1) from infected Calibrachoa plants. During the spring of 2003, petunia samples from Florida and California sent to testing services at Agdia, Inc (Elkhart IN) tested positive for CbMV by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and lateral flow immunoassay (ImmunoStrips). These samples also tested positive by carmovirus group-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers and by immunocapture PCR (2). RNA extracted from these samples with the RNeasy Plant Kit (Qiagen Inc., Valencia, CA) hybridized with a digoxigenin labeled probe derived from purified CbMV viral RNA. All plant samples that tested positive for CbMV were symptomless except one symptomatic sample that also tested positive for Tobacco mosaic virus. From samples that tested positive for CbMV only, mechanical inoculations were made to Chenopodium quinoa at a USDA-ARS greenhouse in Salinas, CA. Representative single, local lesions were used to inoculate additional C. quinoa plants. The resulting local lesions from these inoculations were freeze-dried and further used as virus inoculum (CbMV petunia). Similar inoculum was made with CbMV isolated from Calibrachoa plants (CbMV calibrachoa). Virus-free Petunia hybrida cultivars Surfinia ‘Baby Pink’ and Surfinia ‘Violet’ (Jackson and Perkins Inc., Somis, CA) were mechanically inoculated with CbMV petunia and CbMV calibrachoa. Four weeks postinoculation, all plants were tested using ELISA for the presence of CbMV. In greenhouse conditions, 14.3% of ‘Baby Pink’ plants were positive for CbMV petunia, whereas none were positive for CbMV calibrachoa. ‘Violet’ plants were 64.3 and 33.3% positive for CbMV petunia and CbMV calibrachoa, respectively. None of the positive plants expressed virus-like symptoms. Virus particles resembling those of CbMV were observed from infected petunia plants with transmission electron microscopy in leaf-dip preparations. To our knowledge, this is the first report of CbMV infecting petunia. Commercial reproduction of petunia plants and maintenance of genetic mother stock are usually by vegetative propagation. CbMV can be transmitted mechanically and is readily propagated along with its host. To produce healthy petunia plants, virus-free mother stock should be used, which requires regular screening of mother stock for CbMV. Reference: (1) H.-Y. Liu et al. Plant Dis. 87:167, 2003. (2) A. M. Harness et al. (Abstr.) Phytopathology 92:S34, 2002.


Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 698-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Tomitaka ◽  
T. Usugi ◽  
R. Kozuka ◽  
S. Tsuda

In 2009, some commercially grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, exhibited mosaic symptoms. Ten plants from a total of about 72,000 cultivated plants in the greenhouses showed such symptoms. To identify the causal agent, sap from leaves of the diseased plants was inoculated into Chenopodium quinoa and Nicotiana benthamiana plants. Local necrotic lesions appeared on inoculated leaves of C. quinoa, but no systemic infection was observed. Systemic mosaic symptoms were observed on the N. benthamiana plants inoculated. Single local lesion isolation was performed three times using C. quinoa to obtain a reference isolate for further characterization. N. benthamiana was used for propagation of the isolate. Sap from infected leaves of N. benthamiana was mechanically inoculated into three individual S. lycopersicum cv. Momotaro. Symptoms appearing on inoculated tomatoes were indistinguishable from those of diseased tomato plants found initially in the greenhouse. Flexuous, filamentous particles, ~750 nm long, were observed by electron microscopy in the sap of the tomato plants inoculated with the isolate, indicating that the infecting virus may belong to the family Potyviridae. To determine genomic sequence of the virus, RT-PCR was performed. Total RNA was extracted from the tomato leaves experimentally infected with the isolate using an RNeasy Plant Mini kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany). RT-PCR was performed by using a set of universal, degenerate primers for Potyviruses as previously reported (2). Amplicons (~1,500 bp) generated by RT-PCR were extracted from the gels using the QIAquick Gel Extraction kit (QIAGEN) and cloned into pCR-BluntII TOPO (Invitrogen, San Diego, CA). DNA sequences of three individual clones were determined using a combination of plasmid and virus-specific primers, showing that identity among three clones was 99.8%. A consensus nucleotide sequence of the isolate was deposited in GenBank (AB823816). BLASTn analysis of the nucleotide sequence determined showed 99% identity with a partial sequence in the NIb/coat protein (CP) region of Colombian datura virus (CDV) tobacco isolate (JQ801448). Comparison of the amino acid sequence predicted for the CP with previously reported sequences for CDV (AY621656, AJ237923, EU571230, AM113759, AM113754, and AM113761) showed 97 to 100% identity range. Subsequently, CDV infection in both the original and experimentally inoculated plants was confirmed by RT-PCR using CDV-specific primers (CDVv and CDVvc; [1]), and, hence, the causal agent of the tomato disease observed in greenhouse tomatoes was proved to be CDV. The first case of CDV on tomato was reported in Netherlands (3), indicating that CDV was transmitted by aphids from CDV-infected Brugmansia plants cultivated in the same greenhouse. We carefully investigated whether Brugmansia plants naturally grew around the greenhouses, but we could not find them inside or in proximity to the greenhouses. Therefore, sources of CDV inoculum in Japan are still unclear. This is the first report of a mosaic disease caused by CDV on commercially cultivated S. lycopersicum in Japan. References: (1) D. O. Chellemi et al. Plant Dis. 95:755, 2011. (2) J. Chen et al. Arch. Virol. 146:757, 2001. (3) J. Th. J. Verhoeven et al. Eur. J. Plant. Pathol. 102:895, 1996.


2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 348-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Ogawa ◽  
Kyoji Hagiwara ◽  
Hisashi Iwai ◽  
Shoichi Izumi ◽  
Kei Arai

Virology ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 191 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Bowman Vance ◽  
Delores Moore ◽  
Thomas H. Turpen ◽  
Allan Bracker ◽  
Victoria C. Hollowell

Virology ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Dougherty ◽  
Richard F. Allison ◽  
T. Dawn Parks ◽  
Robert E. Johnston ◽  
Mark J. Feild ◽  
...  

Plant Disease ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 917-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Melzer ◽  
J. S. Sugano ◽  
D. Cabanas ◽  
K. K. Dey ◽  
B. Kandouh ◽  
...  

In August 2011, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit from a University of Hawaii field trial displayed mottling symptoms similar to that caused by Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) or other tospoviruses. The foliage from affected plants, however, appeared symptomless. Fruit and leaf tissue from affected plants were negative for TSWV analyzed by double antibody sandwich (DAS)-ELISA and/or TSWV ImmunoStrips (Agdia, Elkhart, IN) when performed following the manufacturer's instructions. Total RNA from a symptomatic and an asymptomatic plant was isolated using an RNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA) and reverse transcribed using Invitrogen SuperScript III reverse transcriptase (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) and primer 900 (5′- CACTCCCTATTATCCAGG(T)16-3′) following the enzyme manufacturer's instructions. The cDNA was then used as template in a universal potyvirus PCR assay using primers 900 and Sprimer, which amplify sequences encoding the partial inclusion body protein (NIb), coat protein, and 3′ untranslated region of potyviruses (1). A ~1,700-bp product was amplified from the cDNA of the symptomatic plant but not the asymptomatic plant. This product was cloned using pGEM-T Easy (Promega, Madison, WI) and three clones were sequenced at the University of Hawaii's Advanced Studies in Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics laboratory. The 1,747-bp consensus sequence of the three clones was deposited in GenBank (Accession No. JQ429788) and, following primer sequence trimming, found to be 97% identical to positions 7,934 through 9,640 of Pepper mottle virus (PepMoV; family Potyviridae, genus Potyvirus) accessions from Korea (isolate ‘217’ from tomato; EU586126) and California (isolate ‘C’ from pepper; M96425). To determine the incidence of PepMoV in the field trial, all 292 plants representing 14 tomato cultivars were assayed for the virus 17 weeks after planting using a PepMoV-specific DAS-ELISA (Agdia) following the manufacturer's directions. Plants were considered positive if their mean absorbance at 405 nm was greater than the mean absorbance + 3 standard deviations + 10% of the negative control samples. The virus incidence ranged from 4.8 to 47.6% for the different varieties, with an overall incidence of 19.9%. Although plant growth was not noticeably impaired by PepMoV infection, the majority of fruit from infected plants was unsaleable, making PepMoV a considerable threat to tomato production in Hawaii. PepMoV has been reported to naturally infect tomato in Guatemala (3) and South Korea (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of this virus in Hawaii and the first report of this virus naturally infecting tomato in the United States. References: (1) J. Chen et al. Arch. Virol. 146:757, 2001. (2) M.-K. Kim et al. Plant Pathol. J. 24:152, 2008. (3) J. Th. J. Verhoeven et al. Plant Dis. 86:186, 2002.


Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (10) ◽  
pp. 1448-1448 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lukanda ◽  
A. Owati ◽  
P. Ogunsanya ◽  
K. Valimunzigha ◽  
K. Katsongo ◽  
...  

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a major food and fodder crop cultivated on 1.54 million ha in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In December 2013, unusually severe chlorotic mottle symptoms and pale green streaks were observed in local varieties (Mudishi 1 and 2, Bambou, Kasayi, H614, H613, and Mugamba) and exotic varieties (H520, H624, H403, HDK8031, and ZM607) in Beni, Lubero, and Rutshuru territories at 1,015 to 1,748 m elevation in North Kivu Province. Symptoms were prominent on newly emerging leaves that later developed marginal necrosis resembling the symptoms of maize lethal necrosis (MLN), caused by a dual infection of Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV, genus Machlomovirus) and Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV, genus Potyvirus). Each of these viruses, but particularly MCMV, is also known to cause severe mosaic and mottling symptoms in maize (4). In January 2014, symptomatic and asymptomatic samples (n = 20) from disease-affected fields in Beni and Lubero provinces were collected for virus testing using Whatman FTA Classic Cards (1) and analyzed for MCMV (2681F: 5′-ATGAGAGCAGTTGGGGAATGCG and 3226R: 5′-CGAATCTACACACACACACTCCAGC) and SCMV (8679F: 5′-GCAATGTCGAAGAAAATGCG and 9595R: 5′-GTCTCTCACCAAGAGACTCGCAGC) by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR (4). Samples were also analyzed for Maize streak virus (MSV, genus Mastrevirus), an endemic virus in DRC, by PCR using MSV specific primers (MSV215-234: CCAAAKDTCAGCTCCTCCG and MSV1770-1792: TTGGVCCGMVGATGTASAG) (3). A DNA product of expected size (~520 bp) resulted only for MCMV in all the symptomatic plant samples. None of the samples tested positive for SCMV or MSV. RT-PCR analyses were performed to ascertain the absence of potyviruses using the degenerate potyvirus primers (CIFor: 5′GGIVVIGTIGGIWSIGGIAARTCIAC and CIRev: 5′ACICCRTTYTCDATDATRTTIGTIGC3′) (2) were also negative. Occurrence of MCMV in symptomatic samples was further confirmed by antigen-coated plate (ACP)-ELISA using anti-MCMV rabbit polyclonal antibodies produced at the Virology Unit, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria. The RT-PCR product of MCMV was purified and sequenced in both directions (GenBank Accession No. KJ699379). Pairwise comparison of 518 bp nucleotide sequence corresponding to p32 and p37 open reading frames of MCMV by BLASTn search revealed 99.8% nucleotide sequence identity with an MCMV isolate from Kenya (JX286709), 98 to 99% identity with the isolates from China (JQ982468 and KF010583), and 96% identity with the isolates from the United States (X14736 and EU358605). MCMV is a newly emerging virus in Africa, first detected during a severe MLND outbreak in 2011 in Kenya (4). This disease has since become a serious threat to maize production in East Africa. MCMV has been reported in maize from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. To our knowledge, this is the first report of MCMV occurrence in DRC. This finding confirms the further geographic expansion of MCMV and illustrates the need for further studies to identify vectors and also create awareness about the disease and to strengthen surveillance to prevent its further spread in the continent. References: (1) O. J. Alabi et al. J. Virol. Met. 154:111, 2008. (2) C. Ha et al. Arch. Virol. 153:25, 2008. (3) K. E. Palmer and E. P. Rybicki. Arch. Virol. 146:1089, 2001. (4) A. Wangai et al. Plant Dis. 96:1582, 2012.


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