A new distinct geminivirus causes soybean stay-green disease

Abstract

Plant viruses make up almost half of the plant disease-causing pathogens, affecting crop yields and the global economy (Savary et al., 2019). Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most valuable legume crops in the world, supplying 25% of the global edible oil and two-thirds of the global concentrated protein for livestock feeding. Recently, the outbreak of soybean stay-green syndrome with delayed leaf senescence (stay-green), flat pods, and increased number of abnormal seeds has swept the soybean production in the Huang-Huai-Hai region of China, resulting in huge yield losses (Xu et al., 2019).