Strain Differentiation of Potato Virus Y in Bhut Jolokia (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) of Assam

Abstract

Bhut jolokia (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) being one of the hottest chillies in the world, is an important indigenous cultivar grown in Brahmaputra flood plains of North-East India. Productivity of the crop is hindered by a number of viral diseases, especially potato virus Y (PVY). Several strains of PVY have been identified till date in Solanaceous crops but the PVY strain detection in Bhut jolokia is still unknown. The present study was carried out to differentiate the strains of PVY in Bhut jolokia (Capsicum chinense Jacq.). Healthy Bhut jolokia seedlings were collected from 10 different districts of Assam. DAS-ELISA confirmed the presence of PVY in all the collected germplasm and molecular differentiation of five PVY strains (PVYN, PVYO, PVYC, PVYN-Wilga, and PVYNTN) were analyzed and the result showed 100% positive for the presence of strain C, 70% for the strains O and N-Wilga, 50% for the strain N and only 30% for the strain NTN. Thus, our study fulfill the aims to identify different strains of PVY in Bhut jolokia for better understanding of the plant-virus interaction dynamics and we believe that this work will pave the way as a strategy for the reverse engineering of viral resistance in Bhut jolokia.