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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #216606

Title: Detection of Strawberry Viruses in Egypt

Author
item RAGAB, MOHAMED - AIN SHAMS UNIV, EGYPT
item DOGDOG, KHALED - AIN SHAMS UNIV, EGYPT
item ATTIA, AMANY - AIN SHAMS UNIV, EGYPT
item SOBOLEV, IRENA - VOLCANI CENTER, ISRAEL
item SPIEGEL, SARA - VOLCANI CENTER, ISRAEL
item ZEIDEN, MOUHAMMAD - MINISTRY OF AG, ISRAEL
item FREEMAN, STANLEY - VOLCANI CENTER, ISRAEL
item TZANETAKIS, IOANNIS - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item MARTIN, ROBERT

Submitted to: International Society for Horticultural Science Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/20/2007
Publication Date: 3/2/2008
Citation: Ragab, M., Dogdog, K., Attia, A., Sobolev, I., Spiegel, S., Zeiden, M., Freeman, S., Tzanetakis, I.E., Martin, R.R. 2008. Detection of strawberry viruses in Egypt. International Society for Horticultural Science Meeting.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: As part of a USAID-MERC funded project, ‘Disease-indexing and mass propagation of superior strawberry cultivars’, an effort was made to evaluate the virus status of strawberries in Egypt. Diagnostic reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for Strawberry mottle, Strawberry crinkle, Strawberry vein banding (SVBV), Strawberry mild yellow edge (SMYEV), Strawberry chlorotic fleck, Strawberry necrotic shock, Strawberry latent ringspot, Apple mosaic, Fragaria chiloensis latent, Strawberry pallidosis associated (SPaV) and Beet pseudo yellows viruses were developed and/or evaluated at the USDA-ARS laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon. Primers used for the testing were those described previously (Martin and Tzanetakis, 2006). Positive controls for the RT-PCR testing, consisted of dried leaf samples of strawberries infected with each of the above viruses, shipped to Egypt and Israel under import permits. Evaluation of the dried positive controls was carried out in Israel prior to a virus detection workshop held in Cairo, Egypt in April of 2006. Collection of strawberry test samples was done in production fields (cultivars unknown) and from nuclear stock plants (cv. ‘Tamar’ and ‘Yael’ originating from Israel). RNA extractions were done as described previously. First-strand cDNA synthesis was carried out using Superscript III reverse transcriptase. The cDNA template from the RT reaction was used for the PCR and amplicons were visualized after separation on an agarose gel and staining with ethidium bromide. All enzymes and kits were used according to manufacturer’s directions. The RT-PCR detection of viruses from RNA extracted from positive controls that were vacuum dried was successful for several but not all of the viruses used in this study. Initial testing of strawberry material from fields in Egypt showed that SMYEV, SVBV and SPaV were detected in field samples. The plants tested from the nuclear stocks tested negative for each of the viruses tested.