Diversity and mealybug transmissibility of Ampeloviruses in pineapple

• Published in: Plant disease Vol. 89; no. 5; pp. 450 - 456
• Main Authors: Sether, D.M, Melzer, M.J, Busto, J, Zee, F, Hu, J.S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: St. Paul, MN American Phytopathological Society 01.05.2005
• Subjects: Ampelovirus; Ananas comosus; Biological and medical sciences; Closterovirus; disease detection; disease incidence; disease transmission; Dysmicoccus brevipes; Dysmicoccus neobrevipes; fruit crops; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; host plants; insect vectors; mealybug wilt; molecular sequence data; nucleotide sequences; pathogen identification; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Pineapple mealybug wilt-associated virus; Pineapple mealybug wilt-associated virus 2; pineapples; plant viruses; Plant viruses and viroids; reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; sequence analysis; viral proteins; Hawaii; Congo(Democratic republic); Polynesia; Africa; Oceania; Ampelovirus; Ananas comosus; vector transmission; Monocotyledones; Enzyme; Transferases; Homology; Monoclonal antibody; Electron microscopy; RNA-directed RNA polymerase; Open reading frame; Virus; Associated virus; Nucleotidyltransferases; Fruit crop; Closteroviridae; Angiospermae; Heat shock protein; Deletion; Bromeliaceae; Spermatophyta; Mutation; Detection; Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction
• ISSN: 0191-2917; 1943-7692
• DOI: 10.1094/PD-89-0450

Mealybug wilt of pineapple (MWP) is one of the most destructive diseases of pineapple (Ananas comosus) worldwide. At least one Ampelovirus species, Pineapple mealybug wilt associated virus-2 (PMWaV-2), and mealybug feeding are involved in the etiology of MWP. A previously undescribed Ampelovirus sharing highest homology with PMWaV-1 and a putative deletion mutant sharing highest homology with PMWaV-2 were detected with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays using degenerate primers. Results were verified with additional sequence information and by immunosorbent electron microscopy. Sequence homology between the virus tentatively designated PMWaV-3, and PMWaV-1 and PMWaV-2, decreases toward the N-terminal across the HSP70 homolog, small hydrophobic protein, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase open reading frames (ORF). Putative PMWaV-3 could not be detected with four different monoclonal antibodies specific for PMWaV-1 and PMWaV-2. The potential deletion mutant spanning the N-terminal of the HSP70 region was obtained from a pineapple accession from Zaire maintained at the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Hawaii. Putative PMWaV-3, like PMWaV-1 and PMWaV-2, is transmissible separately or in combination with other PMWaVs by Dysmicoccus brevipes and D. neobrevipes mealybugs. Plants infected with PMWaV-3 that were continuously exposed to mealybugs did not develop symptoms of MWP in the absence of PMWaV-2. Specific RT-PCR assays were developed for detection of putative PMWaV-3 and the deletion mutant.