Molecular Viral Diagnosis and Sanitation of Yam Genetic Resources: Implications for Safe Yam Germplasm Exchange

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 12; no. 10; p. 1101
• Main Authors: Umber, Marie, Filloux, Denis, Gélabale, Suzia, Gomez, Rose-Marie, Marais, Armelle, Gallet, Séverine, Gamiette, Franciane, Pavis, Claudie, Teycheney, Pierre-Yves
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29.09.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Annealing; Badnavirus - genetics; Badnavirus - isolation & purification; Design; Diagnosis; Dioscorea; Dioscorea - virology; Flowers & plants; Genetic resources; Genomes; Germplasm; germplasm conservation and dissemination; Life Sciences; Maximum likelihood method; Meristems; molecular diagnosis; Next-generation sequencing; Pathogens; Pathology, Molecular - methods; Phytopathology and phytopharmacy; Plant Diseases - virology; Plant Viruses - genetics; Plant Viruses - isolation & purification; Polymerase chain reaction; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Potexvirus - genetics; Potexvirus - isolation & purification; Reproducibility of Results; RNA polymerase; Sanitation; Sanitation - methods; Thermotherapy; Vegetal Biology; Viruses; West Indies; yam; West Indies; France; Guadeloupe; sanitation; germplasm conservation and dissemination; viruses; yam; molecular diagnosis; santé des plantes; pathologie végétale; virologie végétale; virus phytopathogène
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v12101101

Yam ( spp.) is an important crop in tropical and subtropical regions. Many viruses have been recently identified in yam, hampering genetic conservation and safe international exchanges of yam germplasm. We report on the implementation of reliable and cost-effective PCR-based detection tools targeting eight different yam-infecting viruses. Viral indexing of the yam collection maintained by the Biological Resources Center for Tropical Plants (BRC-TP) in Guadeloupe (French West Indies) unveiled a high prevalence of potyviruses, badnaviruses, Dioscorea mosaic associated virus (DMaV) and yam asymptomatic virus 1 (YaV1) and a high level of coinfections. Infected yam accessions were subjected to a combination of thermotherapy and meristem culture. Sanitation levels were monitored using PCR-based and high-throughput sequencing-based diagnosis, confirming the efficacy and reliability of PCR-based detection tools. Sanitation rates were highly variable depending on viruses. Sixteen accessions were successfully sanitized, paving the way to safe yam germplasm exchanges and the implementation of clean seed production programs worldwide.