Abstract
Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is one of the most well-known tomato-infecting begomoviruses and transmitted by Bemisia tabaci. Seed transmission has previously been reported for some RNA viruses, but TYLCV has not previously been described as a seed-borne virus. In 2013 and 2014, without whitefly-mediated transmission, TYLCV was detected in young tomato plants germinated from fallen fruits produced from TYLCV-infected tomato plants in the previous cultivation season. In addition, TYLCV-Israel (TYLCV-IL) was also detected in seeds and their seedlings of TYLCV-infected tomato plants that were infected by both viruliferous whitefly-mediated transmission and agro-inoculation. The seed infectivity was 20–100%, respectively, and the average transmission rate to seedlings was also 84.62% and 80.77%, respectively. TYLCV-tolerant tomatoes also produced TYLCV-infected seeds, but the amount of viral genome was less than seen in TYLCV-susceptible tomato plants. When tomato plants germinated from TYLCV-infected seeds, non-viruliferous whiteflies and healthy tomato plants were placed in an insect cage together, TYLCV was detected from whiteflies as well as receiver tomato plants six weeks later. Taken together, TYLCV-IL can be transmitted via seeds, and tomato plants germinated from TYLCV-infected seeds can be an inoculum source of TYLCV. This is the first report about TYLCV seed transmission in tomato.
Highlights
Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)-infecting plant virus transmitted by whitefly Bemisia tabaci[1,2]
The possibility of TYLCV seed transmission has been reinvestigated based on the seed transmission results of Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) as another begomovirus in the family Geminiviridae
At the tomato-cultivation farm in Jeju Island located in the southern part of Korea, small tomato plants germinated from seeds of fallen tomato fruits from TYLCV-infected tomato plants in the previous cultivation season, were observed and harvested for further TYLCV detection analysis (Fig. 1B)
Summary
Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)-infecting plant virus transmitted by whitefly Bemisia tabaci[1,2]. It belongs to the genus Begomovirus of the family Geminiviridae and has a single-stranded circular DNA genome of about 2.8 kb encapsidated in a twinned icosahedral virion[3]. TYLCV-infected tomato plants show severe symptoms such as stunting, leaf curling and yellowing, which cause critical production loss in tomato cultivation[4]. Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) belonging to the genus Begomovirus was first reported as a seed-transmissible virus in sweet potatoes[29].
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