ABSTRACT
Euphorbia mosaic virus (EuMV) was found in a symptomatic passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) plant from Homestead, Florida, USA, as well as in the symptomatic weed Euphorbia heterophylla. This is the first identification of EuMV in Florida and the United States and the first report of a natural infection of passionfruit by EuMV.
GENOME ANNOUNCEMENT
Euphorbia mosaic virus (EuMV) is a species of Begomovirus (Geminiviridae), a taxon of plant viruses characterized by single-stranded circular DNA genomes (1). EuMV has a bipartite genome consisting of a DNA-A (2,609 to 2,615 nucleotides [nt]) and a DNA-B (2,571 to 2,590 nt).
DNA was extracted from the leaves of a passionfruit plant (Passiflora edulis Sims) showing symptoms of leave distortion and necrotic spots (2). The leaves were collected in 1993 from Homestead, Florida, USA, desiccated, and stored at 4°C. A DNA-A (2,609 nt; KJ647290), and a DNA-B (2,545 nt; KJ647291) were cloned from EcoRI and AvaI-digestion of rolling-circle amplification products generated using random hexamers. Pairwise scores generated by the Species Demarcation Tool (SDT) indicated that the DNA-A and the DNA-B had the greatest similarity, 98.6% and 97.2%, respectively, to the DNA-A and the DNA-B of EuMV-[CU:Hav:27:07] obtained from Euphorbia heterophylla L. in Cuba (HQ896201, HQ896201) (3, 4). The common regions of the DNA components (344 nt) were 97% identical, indicating that these constitute an isolate of Euphorbia mosaic virus (EuMV-[US:Fl:PF:313:1993]).
Samples of E. heterophylla plants showing symptoms of bright foliar mosaic were collected from Homestead, Florida, in 2013. A DNA-A (2,609 nt; JQ963887) and a DNA-B (2,585 nt; JQ963888) were obtained through cloning and sequencing of XmnI-digested rolling-circle amplification products generated using random hexamers. SDT pairwise scores indicated that the DNA-A and the DNA-B had their highest identities, 98.8% and 98.1%, respectively, with those of EuMV-[US:Fl:PF:313:1993]. The common regions of the components (341 nt) were 97% identical, indicating that these constitute a bipartite begomovirus, designated EuMV-[US:Fl:Eu4]. The B component sequences differed in size due to a 40-nt deletion near the iterons in EuMV-[US:Fl:PF:313:1993]. While the presence of a begomovirus in symptomatic E. heterophylla has been known in Homestead, Florida, for many years (5), EuMV is the first virus to be associated with those disease symptoms.
DNA-A and DNA-B clones of EuMV-[US:Fl:PF:313:1993] were successfully inoculated to passionfruit ‘Lilikoi’ and Phaseolus vulgaris ‘Topcrop’ (6). Symptoms in P. edulis began as a mild mottling followed by necrotic spots, leaf deformation, and flower abortion. These symptoms are similar to those described for Passionfruit severe leaf distortion virus (from Brazil) but different from those of two other partially characterized begomoviruses (7–9). Symptoms in P. vulgaris, severe leaf distortion and stunting, were similar to those described for EuMV-YP from Mexico (10). Whitefly adults (Bemisia tabaci Genn. MEAM1) successfully transmitted EuMV from bean to bean, but not from passionfruit to either bean or passionfruit (11). P. edulis has been reported to be a poor colonization host for the MEAM1 whitefly (12).
Surveys of passionfruit in Homestead, Florida, from 2011 to 2012 failed to identify any EuMV-infected passionfruit plants, although EuMV-infected E. heterophylla plants with whiteflies were readily found. EuMV-[US:Fl:PF:313:1993] may have been transmitted from E. heterophylla to passionfruit by a whitefly that was later displaced by B. tabaci MEAM1, which first appeared in Florida in the mid-1980s (13, 14).
To our knowledge, this is the first report of EuMV as the causal agent of a disease in passionfruit and the first report of EuMV in the United States.
Accession number(s).
The sequences of EuMV-[US:Fl:PF:313:1993] were deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers KJ647290 and KJ647291 (DNA-A and DNA-B, respectively), and the sequences of EUMV-[US:Fl:Eu4] were deposited in GenBank under the accession numbers JQ963887 and JQ963888.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We thank H. Capobianco for technical assistance.
Footnotes
Citation Polston JE, Londoño MA, Cohen AL, Padilla-Rodriguez M, Rosario K, Breitbart M. 2017. Genome sequence of Euphorbia mosaic virus from passionfruit and Euphorbia heterophylla in Florida. Genome Announc 5:e01714-16. https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.01714-16.
REFERENCES
- 1.King AMQ, Adams MJ, Carstens EB, Lefkowitz EJ. 2011. Virus taxonomy: 9th report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Academic Press/Elsevier, London. [Google Scholar]
- 2.Polston JE, Londoño MA, Capobianco H. 2014. The complete genome sequence of the New World jatropha mosaic virus. Arch Virol 159:3131–3136. doi: 10.1007/s00705-014-2132-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Muhire BM, Varsani A, Martin DP. 2014. SDT: A virus classification tool based on pairwise sequence alignment and identity calculation. PLoS One 9:e108277. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108277. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Fiallo-Olivé E, Navas-Castillo J, Moriones E, Martínez-Zubiaur Y. 2012. Begomoviruses infecting weeds in Cuba: increased host range and a novel virus infecting Sida rhombifolia. Arch Virol 157:141–146. doi: 10.1007/s00705-011-1123-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Kim KS, Fulton RW. 1984. Ultrastructure of Datura stramonium infected with an euphorbia virus suggestive of a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus. Phytopathology 74:236–241. doi: 10.1094/Phyto-74-236. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Guenoune-Gelbart D, Sufrin-Ringwald T, Capobianco H, Gaba V, Polston JE, Lapidot M. 2010. Inoculation of plants with begomoviruses by particle bombardment without cloning: using rolling circle amplification of total DNA from infected plants. J Virol Methods 168:87–93. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2010.04.022. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 7.Ferreira SS, Barros DR, de Almeida MR, Zerbini FM. 2010. Characterization of passionfruit severe leaf distortion virus, a novel begomovirus infecting passionfruit in Brazil, reveals a close relationship with tomato-infecting begomoviruses. Plant Pathol 59:221–230. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3059.2009.02205.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 8.Brown JK, Bird J, Fletcher DC. 1993. First report of passiflora leaf mottle disease caused by a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus in Puerto Rico. Plant Dis 77:1264. doi: 10.1094/PD-77-1264C. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 9.Novaes QS, Freitas-Astua J, Yuki VA, Kitajima EW, Camargo LEA, Rezende JAM. 2003. Partial characterization of a bipartite begomovirus infecting yellow passion flower in Brazil. Plant Pathol 52:648–654. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3059.2003.00878.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 10.Hernández-Zepeda C, Idris AM, Carnevali G, Brown JK, Moreno-Valenzuela OA. 2007. Molecular characterization and experimental host range of euphorbia mosaic virus-Yucatan Peninsula, a begomovirus species in the Squash leaf curl virus clade. Plant Pathol 56:763–770. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3059.2007.01652.x. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 11.Polston JE, Capobianco H. 2013. Transmitting plant viruses using whiteflies. J Vis Exp 81:e4332. doi: 10.3791/4332. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 12.Nunes ES, Brown JK, Moreira AG, Watson G, Lourenção AL, Piedade SMS, Rezende JAM, Vieira ML. 2008. First report and differential colonization of Passiflora species by the B biotype of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in Brazil. Neotrop Entomol 37:744–746. doi: 10.1590/S1519-566X2008000600021. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 13.Hoelmer KA, Osborne LS, Yokomi RK. 1991. Foliage disorders in Florida associated with feeding by sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. Fla Entomol 74:162–166. doi: 10.2307/3495258. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 14.McKenzie CL, Hodges G, Osborne LS, Byrne FJ, Shatters RG Jr.. 2009. Distribution of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) biotypes in Florida-investigating the Q invasion. J Econ Entomol 102:670–676. doi: 10.1603/029.102.0227. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]