The recent association of a DNA betasatellite with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus in Israel – A new threat to tomato production

Abstract

During November 2016, tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV)-resistant F1 hybrid indeterminate tomato plants cv. Diagrama, grown in a commercial greenhouse in Revaya, Israel, expressed severe symptoms of tomato yellow leaf curl disease (TYLCD). Samples were collected from symptomatic tomato plants, and using TYLCV-specific PCR primers, it was confirmed that these plants were indeed infected with TYLCV. Using the universal betasatellite primer pair B01/B02, followed by cloning and sequencing, it was found that the plants were also infected with a betasatellite. The satellite sequence was deposited in NCBI (GeneBank Acc. No. MK456609). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the closest similarity, with 96% nucleotide identity, was to cotton leaf curl Gezira betasatellite (CLCuGB). Sampling symptomatic tomato plants in major growing areas in Israel revealed that CLCuGB is disseminated throughout the country. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first identification of a betasatellite, associated with TYLCV, in tomato plants in Israel.