First report of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus infecting bindweed in Iran.

Abstract

Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) affects rosaceous plants worldwide. In 2011 and 2012, 50 symptomatic bindweeds (Convolvulus arvensis) were collected from rose gardens in Alburz, Mazandaran and Tehran provinces of Iran. Samples were tested for the presence of PNRSV using DAS-ELISA and dot-immunobinding assay (DIBA) with a polyclonal antiserum (Agdia, USA). PNRSV was detected in 38% of the samples with symptoms such as line pattern, mottle and marginal necrosis in all visited regions. Five isolates from bindweed plants were used for bioassays on cucumber (Cucumis sativus) after single lesion transfer on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Inoculated cowpea plants developed chlorotic spotting on the young leaves and cucumber plants reacted with systemic mosaic, vein banding, and malformations. To confirm the presence of PNRSV in diseased plants, total RNA was extracted from symptomatic bindweed and herbaceous plants with the RNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Vivantis, Malaysia) and analyzed by RT-PCR using the PNRSV-specific primers Ilar 1 and Ilar 2 (Moury et al., 2000). The expected 210 bp fragment was amplified by RT-PCR from samples of symptomatic tissues while no amplification products were obtained when water or total RNA from symptomless plants were used as template. In Iran, PNRSV was first detected in rose samples from Tehran province (Rakhshandehroo et al., 2006). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of PNRSV in Convolvulus arvensis in Iran.