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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #192018

Title: HOW SIMILAR ARE PLANT AND INSECT VIRUSES? STRAWBERRY LATENT VIRUS: A CASE STUDY

Author
item TZANETAKIS, I - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item Martin, Robert

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/8/2006
Publication Date: 5/1/2006
Citation: Tzanetakis, I.E., Martin, R.R. 2006. How similar are plant and insect viruses? strawberry latent virus: a case study. Acta Horticulturae.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A major outbreak of virus-induced strawberry decline in western North America from 2002 to 2004 led to an investigation of graft-transmissible agents reported to infect this crop. Strawberries with virus-like diseases maintained at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, OR were studied for the presence of virus(es). In the 1980’s, in the course of identifying the causal agent of strawberry mild yellow edge disease, Martin and Converse identified and purified a spherical virus from diseased plants. Later, it was discovered that the same virus was also present in strawberry seedlings derived from healthy plants. This unknown virus was not studied further and its importance remained unknown, particularly when found in mixed infections with other viruses. Sequence data was obtained from viral dsRNA extracted from the only plant known to have remained from the original study. The data indicated that the virus, currently designated as Strawberry latent virus (StLV), is a novel virus that is related most closely to the insect-infecting viruses of the genus Cripavirus. The implication in the evolution of picorna-like viruses is major. Although there are some plant viruses that have distant relationships with insect-infecting viruses, StLV is linked more closely with members of the Cripavirus genus than any genera of plant viruses. The completion of the genome may reveal the presence of a movement protein or a mode of movement and transmission similar to that of cryptic viruses. Future plans include the study of the potential synergism of StLV with other major strawberry viruses.