Prevalence and molecular characterization of Tomato spotted wilt virus in pepper fields in Tokat province

Abstract

The study was conducted in Tokat Center, Niksar, Erbaa and Pazar districts where peppers were grown in the summer of 2016, and leaf samples were collected from plants suspected of the virus. During the surveys, a total of 324 plant samples were collected and the infected pepper samples were subjected to DAS-ELISA test with (Tomato spotted wilt virus) TSWV-specific antiserum, and RT-PCR was performed with virus-specific primers. In DAS-ELISA studies, 324 plants were tested and 13% of the samples were found to be TSWV infected. Samples that were positive in ELISA test were subjected to RT-PCR with nucleocapsid gene specific primers in the S segment and three samples were sent for sequence analysis. According to results, Turkey TSWV isolates Np gene region have shown 98-99% nucleotide identity with the isolates from France and South Korea and grouped with them same group.