Abstract
The potato was introduced to Europe from the Andes of South America in the 16th century, and today it is grown worldwide; it is a nutritious staple food eaten by millions and underpins food security in many countries. Unknowingly, potato virus Y (PVY) was also introduced through trade in infected potato tubers, and it has become the most important viral pathogen of potato. Phylogenetic analysis has revealed the spread and emergence of strains of PVY, including strains causing economically important diseases in tobacco, tomato and pepper, and that the virus continues to evolve with the relatively recent emergence of new damaging recombinant strains. High-throughput, next-generation sequencing platforms provide powerful tools for detection, identification and surveillance of new PVY strains. Aphid vectors of PVY are expected to increase in incidence and abundance in a warmer climate, which will increase the risk of virus spread. Wider deployment of crop cultivars carrying virus resistance will be an important means of defence against infection. New cutting-edge biotechnological tools such as CRISPR and SIGS offer a means for rapid engineering of resistance in established cultivars. We conclude that in future, human activities and ingenuity should be brought to bear to control PVY and the emergence of new strains in key crops by increased focus on host resistance and factors driving virus evolution and spread.
Highlights
Potato virus Y (PVY) is the type species of the genus Potyvirus, one of the largest groups of plant viruses, containing c. 160 species [1,2]
The analysis suggests that diversification and emergence of some of the current strains of PVY may have occurred outside South America, possibly in Europe
PVYNTN was shown to overcome a type of host resistance that develops later in the growing season, called mature plant resistance (MPR) [34,35,36], infecting cv Maris Piper at the flowering stage when they were not susceptible to PVYO [37] and indicating that PVYNTN is capable of infecting plants later in the growing season
Summary
Potato virus Y (PVY) is the type species of the genus Potyvirus, one of the largest groups of plant viruses, containing c. 160 species [1,2]. Potato virus Y (PVY) is the type species of the genus Potyvirus, one of the largest groups of plant viruses, containing c. PVY exists as several strains and has become one of the most economically important pathogens of potato and the most important virus [3], and it occurs commonly wherever potatoes are grown. Human activity has played a major part in the spread of PVY from the South American Andes to the rest ofactivity the world, through in plant material disease Andes status. Since from the Andean region, has major pathogen of tobacco and to the emerging rest of the world, throughPVY trade in plantbecome materiala of unknown disease status. Weepidemiology believe that toand effectively control the virus anddrawn preventfrom the emergence ofvirus new strains in key structure, economic impacts, mostly research on infections in potato. This work is vital for the supply of nutritious food to a growing world population in disease-free and climate resilient, sustainable agricultural systems
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