ARS | Publication request: Sweet Potato Leaf Curl Virus: Virus Reservoir in Species of Wild Morning Glory

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: December 11, 2007
Publication Date: January 19, 2008
Citation: Ling, K., Harrison Jr, H.F., Simmons, A.M., Jackson, D.M. 2008. Sweet Potato Leaf Curl Virus: Virus Reservoir in Species of Wild Morning Glory. Meeting Abstract. National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group Progress Report 2007. P8.

Technical Abstract: Recent increases in populations of the Sweetpotato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) vector, the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), led to a dramatic increase in the disease in sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas). Knowledge of crop or weed species that occur in sweetpotato growing areas and can serve as sources of the virus is critical for devising effective disease management strategies. In this experiment, over 120 plant species consisting of diverse wild and cultivated plant species were tested as alternate hosts. SPLCV infection was determined by symptom expression on the tested plants as well as with Real-time PCR assays. The collection included 49 Ipomoea species, and 41 of these proved to be the alternate hosts for SPLCV. SPLCV was detected in several wild morningglories collected in Charleston County during 2007. This suggests that cultivated or indigenous Ipomoea species may serve as a source for SPLCV infestation of clean sweetpotatoes.