Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Plant Pathology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #182620
Title: DETECTION OF TOBACCO STREAK VIRUS FROM HIBISCUS IN FLORIDA

Author
item LEWANDOWSKI, DENNIS - UNIV. OF FLORIDA, CREC
item AFUNIAN, MOHAMMAD - UNIV. OF FLORIDA - CREC
item Adkins, Scott

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2005
Publication Date: 6/30/2005
Citation: Lewandowski, D.J., Afunian, M., Adkins, S.T. 2005. Detection of tobacco streak virus from hibiscus in Florida. Phytopathology. 95:S59.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Several viruses have recently been isolated from hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), which is often observed in Florida landscapes and garden centers with virus-like symptoms. An unknown virus was transmitted to Nicotiana tabacum from symptomatic hibiscus in Florida in 2003. This virus was propagated in tobacco and N. benthamiana and the dsRNA profile suggested the presence of a virus with a tripartite genome. The original hibiscus plant tested positive by DAS-ELISA using commercially available reagents against Tobacco streak virus (TSV). A second TSV-ELISA positive sample was identified from the subsequent testing of nine additional hibiscus plants. Primers were designed based on TSV RNA 3 conserved sequences within the coat protein (CP) gene and 3’-UTR. Total RNA isolated from the original ELISA positive hibiscus plant was amplified using RT-PCR, and products of 726 and 1013 bp corresponding to the TSV CP ORF and CP ORF plus 3’-UTR were cloned and sequenced. The CP of this virus is 79-84% and 80-85% identical at the nt and amino acid levels, respectively, to different isolates of TSV. The CP is most similar to a TSV isolate from soybean, and less similar to TSV isolates from other malvaceous hosts. RT-PCR also amplified the CP gene of Hibiscus latent Fort Pierce virus from the same hibiscus leaf indicating this plant was co-infected.