Abstract
Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is a native fruit crop in China. Leaf mottle and dapple fruit disease is prevalent in cultivated jujube plants grown at Aksu in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Jujube yellow mottle-associated virus (JYMaV), a tentative member in the genus Emaravirus, was recently identified from mottle-diseased jujube plants grown in Liaoning Province in China, but its incidence and genetic diversity in China is unknown. In this study, the genome sequences of three JYMaV isolates from two jujube cultivars and one jujube variant were determined by high-throughput sequencing (HTS) for small RNA and rRNA-depleted RNA coupled with RT-PCR assays. Comparison of these sequences together with sequences of the viral RNA segments derived by primer set 3C/5H-based RT-PCR revealed that genetic diversity was present in the virus populations and high sequence variation occurred at the non-translational regions of each of the viral genomic segments. Field investigation confirmed the close association of the virus with leaf mottle symptoms of jujube plants. Furthermore, this study revealed that P5 encoded in the viral RNA5 displayed a nuclear localization feature differing from the plasmodesma (PD) subcellular localization of the virus movement protein (P4), and the two proteins could interact with each other in the BiFC assays. Our study provides a snapshot of JYMaV genetic diversity in its natural hosts.
Highlights
Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), a fruit crop in the family Rhamnaceae with a cultivation history dating back over 7000 years, is native to China [1,2], where it is widely cultivated [3]
Since the diseased trees showed systemic disease symptoms, highly like viral diseases of jujube recently reported in China [6,7], to understand the causal agents of the disease, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) was carried out for small RNA and RNA extracted from three leaf samples of diseased Chinese jujube plants
90 contigs assembled from the small RNA (sRNA) library were homologous to P1, P2, P3, P4 and P8 of raspberry leaf blotch virus (RLBV), a member of the genus Emaravirus (Table S2)
Summary
Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), a fruit crop in the family Rhamnaceae with a cultivation history dating back over 7000 years, is native to China [1,2], where it is widely cultivated [3]. Leaf mosaic and fruit blotch disorder disease was found to be widely distributed in the major jujube growing areas at Aksu in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region of China and caught great attention for producers and scientists. Since the diseased trees showed systemic disease symptoms, highly like viral diseases of jujube recently reported in China [6,7], to understand the causal agents of the disease, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) was carried out for small RNA (sRNA) and RNA extracted from three leaf samples of diseased Chinese jujube plants. For the first time, we reported the wide occurrence of JYMaV in jujube trees grown at Aksu in Xinjiang and the molecular diversity of the viral genomic RNAs
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
