Abstract
Strawberry mottle virus (SMoV) and strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV) cause diseases on strawberry plants, but the effect of coinfection of SMoV and SVBV on the growth, development, and defense system of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne) remains unknown. We investigated the effect of SMoV and SVBV co-infection on strawberry cultivar ‘Benihope’. The results showed that stem diameter, leaf size, leaf number, relative chlorophyll content, total chlorophyll content, photosynthetic parameters, and stomatal aperture of SMoV and SVBV co-infected strawberry (VIS) plants were in a weaker level than uninfected control plants, indicating that viruses inhibited the growth and photosynthesis of strawberry plants. Furthermore, the initiation of flowering and fruiting stages of VIS plants were delayed by about three weeks compared with the controls, and the fruiting period was shortened, demonstrating that the reproduction of VIS plants was inhibited. Fruit quality was damaged in VIS plants due to a significant increase in fruit firmness and titratable acidity and decrease in total soluble solid content than control fruits. More dead cells and H2O2 accumulated along the veins of VIS leaves, and the content of abscisic acid and catalase activity significantly increased, whereas anthocyanin content was lower than that of control plants. The results demonstrate that SVBV and SMoV coinfection inhibits the growth and development of ‘Benihope’ strawberry plants, and the plants respond to viruses by regulating stomatal aperture, the accumulation of ABA and antioxidants. To our knowledge, this study contributes information to understand how both viruses impair the strawberry growth and development for the first time.
Highlights
China is the world’s largest strawberry-producing country, and it produced nearly three million tonnes of fruit in 2018 (FAOSTAT, 2018)
VIS plants were from ten mother plants that were positive for strawberry mottle virus (SMoV) and strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV) while negative for other four tested viruses by RT-PCR (Figs. 1A and 1B)
The result showed that all VIS samples were positive for SMoV and SVBV (Figs. 1C and 1D), and all control samples were negative for tested viruses (Figs. 1E and 1F)
Summary
China is the world’s largest strawberry-producing country, and it produced nearly three million tonnes of fruit in 2018 (FAOSTAT, 2018). By contrast to in developed Western countries, Chinese strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne) cultivation is mainly facilitated by complex climate conditions (Deng and Lei, 2005). A short-day strawberry cultivar that is planted at the end of August and that blooms and bears fruit in mid-October, is preferentially cultivated in China. The Japanese strawberry cultivar ‘Benihope’ is a typical short-day cultivar and is grown widely in Beijing due to its high-quality fruit. ‘Benihope’ plants are susceptible to diseases (Luo et al, 2019). Strawberry is propagated vegetatively via runners, which explains how viruses can be transmitted
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