ISHS Acta Horticulturae 377: VIII International Symposium on Virus Diseases of Ornamental Plants
TOMATO YELLOW LEAF CURL VIRUS, A GEMINIVIRUS WITH A SINGLE GENOMIC COMPONENT: MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF INFECTION AND NEW WAYS FOR TOMATO PROTECTION |
| Authors: | H. Czosnek, M. Zeidan, I. Ekstein, T. Zur-Kunik, Y. Gafni, B. Gronenborn, D. Zamir |
| Abstract:
Ornamental and agricultural plants are threatened by many diseases caused by whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses. Since these diseases are in a fast spreading phase, it is urgent to device rapid diagnosis methods and to produce resistant plants. As a model, we are studying tomato infection by the tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus. TYLCV possesses a single genomic molecule of 2.787 nucleotides, unlike other described whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses which have a bipartite genome. The process of TYLCV infection was analysed using DNA probes. Young leaves are the best target for inoculation. The viral DNA replicates at the site of inoculation and is transported, first to the roots, then to the shoot apex and finally to the neighbouring leaves and flowers. TYLCV can be detected in whiteflies already after 30 min of acquisition feeding. A whitefly can acquire a finite number of virions, suggesting the existence of receptors for TYLCV. We are fighting the TYLCV disease using three approaches. 1. The introgression of TYLCV resistance genes from wild tomato species into cultivars is accelerated by the use of DNA markers (RFLP). 2. Tomato plants expressing the TYLCV capsid protein and other viral genes have been produced. 3. Symptomless TYLCV mutants are used to neutralise acquisition and transmission of virulent TYLCV by the whitefly vector. | |
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