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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Charleston, South Carolina » Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #339592
Title: Is the begomovirus, sweet potato leaf curl virus, really seed transmitted in sweetpotato?

Author
item Ling, Kai-Shu
item Wadl, Phillip
item Williams, Livy
item Simmons, Alvin
item Jackson, D

Submitted to: American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/5/2017
Publication Date: 12/1/2017
Citation: Ling, K., Wadl, P.A., Williams III, L.H., Simmons, A.M., Jackson, D.M. 2017. Is the begomovirus, sweet potato leaf curl virus, really seed transmitted in sweetpotato?. American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting. 107(12S):S5.111. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-107-12-S5.1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-107-12-S5.1

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: Sweetpotato is one of the major root crops in the world and is also widely grown in the southern United States. Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) is a begomovirus posing a serious threat to sweetpotato production worldwide and is primarily transmitted by whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) or through vegetative propagated materials (cuttings or storage roots). A recent publication on seed transmission of SPLCV in sweetpotato, the first report of seed transmission by any Geminivirus, prompted us to investigate our sweetpotato breeding seed stocks for possible seed transmission. Through symptom observation and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on seedlings, experiments were conducted in three separate years (2012, 2016, and 2017). In the first experiment conducted in 2012 using a smaller number of seedlings (~100), no seed transmission of SPLCV on the germinated seedlings was detected. The second experiment conducted in 2016, used ~3,500 seedlings from seeds collected in 2015 from 20 genotypes in Charleston, SC; none of these seedlings tested positive for SPLCV. In the third experiment conducted in 2017, nearly 14,000 seedlings were germinated in insect-free conditions in greenhouses and a growth chamber. Again, no seed transmission of SPLCV was detected in the test. In conclusion, our large scale seedling grow-out tests conducted in multiple years did not support seed transmission of SPLCV in sweetpotato.