Old and New Aphid-Borne Viruses in Coriander in Chile: An Epidemiological Approach

In Chile, edible herbs are mainly grown by small farmers. This type of horticultural crop typically requires intensive management because it is highly susceptible to insects, some of which transmit viruses that severely affect crop yield and quality. In 2019, in coriander plants tested negative for all previously reported viruses, RNA-Seq analysis of one symptomatic plant revealed a plethora of viruses, including one virus known to infect coriander, five viruses never reported in coriander, and a new cytorhabdovirus with a 14,180 nucleotide RNA genome for which the species name Cytorhabdovirus coriandrum was proposed. Since all the detected viruses were aphid-borne, aphids and weeds commonly growing around the coriander field were screened for viruses. The results showed the occurrence of the same seven viruses and the alfalfa mosaic virus, another aphid-borne virus, in aphids and weeds. Together, our findings document the presence of multiple viruses in coriander and the potential role of weeds as virus reservoirs for aphid acquisition.

Viromes of Tabanids from Russia

Advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have greatly enhanced our knowledge of virus biodiversity. Currently, the viromes of hematophagous invertebrates, such as mosquitoes and ixodid ticks, are being actively studied. Tabanidae (Diptera) are a widespread family, with members mostly known for their persistent hematophagous behavior. They transmit viral, bacterial, and other pathogens, both biologically and mechanically. However, tabanid viromes remain severely understudied. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing to describe the viromes of several species in the Hybomitra, Tabanus, Chrysops, and Haematopota genera, which were collected in two distant parts of Russia: the Primorye Territory and Ryazan Region. We assembled fourteen full coding genomes of novel viruses, four partial coding genomes, as well as several fragmented viral sequences, which presumably belong to another twelve new viruses. All the discovered viruses were tested for their ability to replicate in mammalian porcine embryo kidney (PEK), tick HAE/CTVM8, and mosquito C6/36 cell lines. In total, 16 viruses were detected in at least one cell culture after three passages (for PEK and C6/36) or 3 weeks of persistence in HAE/CTVM8. However, in the majority of cases, qPCR showed a decline in virus load over time.

Molecular Diversity of Rice Yellow Mottle Virus in Uganda and Relationships with Other Strains from Africa

Rice yellow mottle virus disease, caused by Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV), is the most important disease of lowland rice in Uganda. However, little is known about its genetic diversity in Uganda and relationships with other strains elsewhere across Africa. A new degenerate primer pair that targets amplification of the entire RYMV coat protein gene (circa 738 bp) was designed to aid virus variability analysis using RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing. A total of 112 rice leaf samples from plants with RYMV mottling symptoms were collected during the year 2022 in 35 lowland rice fields within Uganda. The RYMV RT-PCR results were 100% positive, and all 112 PCR products were sequenced. BLASTn analysis revealed that all isolates were closely related (93 to 98%) to those previously studied originating from Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar. Despite high purifying selection pressure, diversity analysis on 81 out of 112 RYMV CP sequences revealed a very low diversity index of 3 and 1.0% at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively. Except for glutamine, amino acid profile analysis revealed that all 81 Ugandan isolates shared the primary 19 amino acids based on the RYMV coat protein region examined. Except for one isolate (UG68) from eastern Uganda that clustered alone, phylogeny analysis revealed two major clades. The Ugandan RYMV isolates were phylogenetically related to those from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and Malawi but not to RYMV isolates in West Africa. Thus, the RYMV isolates in this study are related to serotype 4, a strain common in eastern and southern Africa. RYMV serotype 4 originated in Tanzania, where evolutionary forces of mutation have resulted in the emergence and spread of new variants. Furthermore, mutations are evident within the coat protein gene of the Ugandan isolates, which may be attributed to changing RYMV pathosystems as a result of rice production intensification in Uganda. Overall, the diversity of RYMV was limited and most noticeably in eastern Uganda.

Milder Autumns May Increase Risk for Infection of Crops with Turnip Yellows Virus

Climate change has increased the risk for infection of crops with insect-transmitted viruses. Mild autumns provide prolonged active periods to insects, which may spread viruses to winter crops. In autumn 2018, green peach aphids (Myzus persicae) were found in suction traps in southern Sweden that presented infection risk for winter oilseed rape (OSR; Brassica napus) with turnip yellows virus (TuYV). A survey was carried out in spring 2019 with random leaf samples from 46 OSR fields in southern and central Sweden using DAS-ELISA, and TuYV was detected in all fields except one. In the counties of Skåne, Kalmar, and Östergötland, the average incidence of TuYV-infected plants was 75%, and the incidence reached 100% for nine fields. Sequence analyses of the coat protein gene revealed a close relationship between TuYV isolates from Sweden and other parts of the world. High-throughput sequencing for one of the OSR samples confirmed the presence of TuYV and revealed coinfection with TuYV-associated RNA. Molecular analyses of seven sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) plants with yellowing, collected in 2019, revealed that two of them were infected by TuYV, together with two other poleroviruses: beet mild yellowing virus and beet chlorosis virus. The presence of TuYV in sugar beet suggests a spillover from other hosts. Poleroviruses are prone to recombination, and mixed infection with three poleroviruses in the same plant poses a risk for the emergence of new polerovirus genotypes. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license.

The Spatiotemporal Distribution, Abundance, and Seasonal Dynamics of Cotton-Infesting Aphids in the Southern U.S

Cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) is an emerging aphid-borne pathogen infecting cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., in the southern United States (U.S.). The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, infests cotton annually and is the only known vector to transmit CLRDV to cotton. Seven other species have been reported to feed on, but not often infest, cotton: Protaphis middletonii Thomas, Aphis craccivora Koch, Aphis fabae Scopoli, Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas, Myzus persicae Sulzer, Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominale Sasaki, and Smynthurodes betae Westwood. These seven have not been studied in cotton, but due to their potential epidemiological importance, an understanding of the intra- and inter-annual variations of these species is needed. In 2020 and 2021, aphids were monitored from North Carolina to Texas using pan traps around cotton fields. All of the species known to infest cotton, excluding A. fabae, were detected in this study. Protaphis middletonii and A. gossypii were the most abundant species identified. The five other species of aphids captured were consistently low throughout the study and, with the exception of R. rufiabdominale, were not detected at all locations. The abundance, distribution, and seasonal dynamics of cotton-infesting aphids across the southern U.S. are discussed.

Genetic diversity and epidemic histories of rice yellow mottle virus in Ghana

Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) has persisted as a major biotic constraint to rice production in Africa. However, no data on RYMV epidemics were available in Ghana, although it is an intensive rice-producing country. Surveys were performed from 2010 to 2020 in eleven rice-growing regions of Ghana. Symptom observations and serological detections confirmed that RYMV is circulating in most of these regions. Coat protein gene and complete genome sequencings revealed that RYMV in Ghana almost exclusively belongs to the strain S2, one of the strains covering the largest area in West Africa. We also detected the presence of the S1ca strain which is being reported for the first time outside its area of origin. These results suggested a complex epidemiological history of RYMV in Ghana and a recent expansion of S1ca to West Africa. Phylogeographic analyses reconstructed at least five independent RYMV introductions in Ghana for the last 40 years, probably due to rice cultivation intensification in West Africa leading to a better circulation of RYMV. In addition to identifying some routes of RYMV dispersion in Ghana, this study contributes to the epidemiological surveillance of RYMV and helps to design disease management strategies, especially through breeding for rice disease resistance.

The Viral Threat in Cotton: How New and Emerging Technologies Accelerate Virus Identification and Virus Resistance Breeding

Cotton (Gossypium spp. L., Malvaceae) is the world's largest source of natural fibers. Virus outbreaks are fast and economically devasting regarding cotton. Identifying new viruses is challenging as virus symptoms usually mimic nutrient deficiency, insect damage, and auxin herbicide injury. Traditional viral identification methods are costly and time-consuming. Developing new resistant cotton lines to face viral threats has been slow until the recent use of molecular virology, genomics, new breeding techniques (NBT), remote sensing, and artificial intelligence (AI). This perspective article demonstrates rapid, sensitive, and cheap technologies to identify viral diseases and propose their use for virus resistance breeding.

First report of turnip yellows virus infecting cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) in the USA

During the spring of 2021, cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) planted in the research farm at the University of Georgia, Tifton, exhibited leaf distortion, yellow and purple discoloration at the leaf margin of older leaves, and severe stunting. Symptoms were present on nearly 30% of the plants in the field. To identify the potential agents associated, leaf tissues from two symptomatic plants were sent for high throughput sequencing (HTS) of small RNA (sRNA; DNB sequencing, SE read 1x75bp) to Beijing Genomics Institute, China. From each sample, ~ 18 million raw reads were generated. The reads with poor quality and adapter sequences were removed using CLC Genomics Workbench 21.2 (Qiagen, Germantown, MD). Of the total reads, 2,093 and 3,889 reads aligned to the genome of turnip yellows virus (TuYV) in samples one and two, respectively. Reads of turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) were also detected (data not shown). Partial sequences of TuYV assembled from samples one and two showed 89.5% and 89.9% match and 86% and 93% coverage, respectively, with the genome of the type isolate of TuYV (NC_003743) from the United Kingdom. To confirm the presence of TuYV in the samples collected from the same location, specific primers were designed targeting the P0 region (FP- 5'ACAAAAGAAACCAG- GAGGGAATCC3'; RP-5'GCCTTTTCATACAAACATTTCGGTG3') and coat protein (CP) region (FP-5'GTTAATGAATACGGTCGTGGGTAG3'; RP-5'ATTCTGAAAGAACCAGCT- ATCGATG3') of the virus. Eight of 20 (40%) symptomatic samples were determined to be infected with TuYV based on the amplification of expected size products of the P0 (786 nt) and the CP gene (581 nt) in reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). All samples were also tested for the presence of TuMV by RT-PCR as in Sanchez et al. (2003), but none tested positive despite being identified in HTS. Symptoms on samples from which eithervirus could not be detected indicates the involvement of other factors and would require further studies. The partial P0 and CP gene amplicons of TuYV from two samples each were Sanger sequenced bi-directionally at Genewiz (South Plainfield, NJ) and confirmed as TuYV using BLASTn. The partial CP gene sequences from two samples shared 98.7% nucleotide sequence identity with each other and 88.0% (OK349421) and 87.1% (OK349422) identity with the type isolate. The partial P0 gene sequences (OK349423 and OK349424) shared 99.6% nucleotide sequence identity with each other and 92.2% identity with the type isolate. TuYV, formerly known as beet western yellows virus (BWYV) (Mayo, 2002), genus Palerovirus, family Solemoviridae (Walker et al., 2021), is transmitted persistently by aphids (Stevens et al., 2008), and is distributed throughout temperate regions of the world (Kawakubo et al., 2021). TuYV has a wide host range, including brassica, vegetables and weeds (Stevens et al., 2008). However, losses have been reported primarily on canola (B. napus) in Australia (Jones, 2007) and Europe (Stevens et al., 2008). On cabbage, TuYV infections have been reported from China (Zhang et al., 2016), Serbia (Milošević et al., 2020) and the Philippines (Buxton-Kirk et al, 2020). TuYV (BWYV) has been found infecting shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) in California (Falk and Duffus, 1984), but there are no reports of the virus from any cultivated crops in the USA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of TuYV in cabbage in the USA. More studies are needed to understand its occurrence and impact on cabbage crops in Georgia as well as other regions in the USA.

ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Solemoviridae 2021

The family Solemoviridae includes viruses with icosahedral particles (26–34 nm in diameter) assembled on T=3 symmetry with a 4–6 kb positive-sense, monopartite, polycistronic RNA genome. Transmission of members of the genera Sobemovirus and Polemovirus occurs via mechanical wounding, vegetative propagation, insect vectors or abiotically through soil; members of the genera Polerovirus and Enamovirus are transmitted by specific aphids. Most solemoviruses have a narrow host range. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the family Solemoviridae, which is available at ictv.global/report/solemoviridae.

Possible Arbovirus Found in Virome of Melophagus ovinus

Members of the Lipopteninae subfamily are blood-sucking ectoparasites of mammals. The sheep ked (Melophagus ovinus) is a widely distributed ectoparasite of sheep. It can be found in most sheep-rearing areas and can cause skin irritation, restlessness, anemia, weight loss and skin injuries. Various bacteria and some viruses have been detected in M. ovinus; however, the virome of this ked has never been studied using modern approaches. Here, we study the virome of M. ovinus collected in the Republic of Tuva, Russia. In our research, we were able to assemble full genomes for five novel viruses, related to the Rhabdoviridae (Sigmavirus), Iflaviridae, Reoviridae and Solemoviridae families. Four viruses were found in all five of the studied pools, while one virus was found in two pools. Phylogenetically, all of the novel viruses clustered together with various recently described arthropod viruses. All the discovered viruses were tested on their ability to replicate in the mammalian porcine embryo kidney (PEK) cell line. Aksy-Durug Melophagus sigmavirus RNA was detected in the PEK cell line cultural supernate after the first, second and third passages. Such data imply that this virus might be able to replicate in mammalian cells, and thus, can be considered as a possible arbovirus.

Cotton Leafroll Dwarf Virus US Genomes Comprise Divergent Subpopulations and Harbor Extensive Variability

Cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) was first reported in the United States (US) in 2017 from cotton plants in Alabama (AL) and has become widespread in cotton-growing states of the southern US. To investigate the genomic variability among CLRDV isolates in the US, complete genomes of the virus were obtained from infected cotton plants displaying mild to severe symptoms from AL, Florida, and Texas. Eight CLRDV genomes were determined, ranging in size from 5865 to 5867 bp, and shared highest nucleotide identity with other CLRDV isolates in the US, at 95.9–98.7%. Open reading frame (ORF) 0, encoding the P0 silencing suppressor, was the most variable gene, sharing 88.5–99.6% and 81.2–89.3% amino acid similarity with CLRDV isolates reported in cotton growing states in the US and in Argentina and Brazil in South America, respectively. Based on Bayesian analysis, the complete CLRDV genomes from cotton in the US formed a monophyletic group comprising three relatively divergent sister clades, whereas CLRDV genotypes from South America clustered as closely related sister-groups, separate from US isolates, patterns reminiscent of phylogeographical structuring. The CLRDV isolates exhibited a complex pattern of recombination, with most breakpoints evident in ORFs 2 and 3, and ORF5. Despite extensive nucleotide diversity among all available CLRDV genomes, purifying selection (dN/dS < 1) was implicated as the primary selective force acting on viral protein evolution.