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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #167691
Title: A CHLOROTIC SPOT DISEASE ON CALLA LILIES (ZANTEDESCHIA SPP.) IS CAUSED BY A TOSPOVIRUS SEROLOGICALLY BUT DISTANTLY RELATED TO WATERMELON SILVER MOTTLE VIRUS

Author
item CHEN, C - DIS AG IMP STA, TAIWAN
item CHEN, T - NAT CHUNG HS UNIV, TAIWAN
item LIN, Y - NAT CHUNG HS UNIV, TAIWAN
item YEH, S - NAT CHUNG HS UNIV, TAIWAN
item Hsu, Hei Ti

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/17/2005
Publication Date: 5/5/2005
Citation: Lin, Y.H., Chen, T.C., Hsu, H.T., Liu, F.L., Chu, F.H., Chen, C.C., Lin, Y.Z., and Yeh, S.D. 2005. Serological Comparison and Molecular Characterization for Verification of Calla Lily chlorotic spot virus as a New Tospovirus Species belonging to Watermelon silver mottle virus Serogroup. Plant Disease. 95:1482-1488.

Interpretive Summary: Attractive with their brilliant color and long lasting flowers, calla lilies are very popular in many parts of the world. In the United States, New Zealand, Israel and the Netherlands, they are mostly grown in greenhouses. In agriculture intensive states, calla lilies are propagated outdoors and are vulnerable to many viruses in the open environments where many other horticultural crops are grown. Calla lilies were introduced in Taiwan in the 1980's and have become an important part of the floral industry for both domestic and overseas markets. In 2001, a field survey of virus diseases of calla lilies was conducted in central Taiwan. A disease exhibiting chlorotic spots on leaves was shown to be caused by a tospovirus similar to Tomato spot wilt and Impatiens necrotic spot viruses which cause economically important diseases in many ornamental crops. This new tospovirus causing chlorotic spots in calla lilies is thrips-borne and has never been before reported. This investigation is important to US floral industries and is relevant to USDA-ARS National Plant Health Program 303.

Technical Abstract: A new tospovirus, Calla lily chlorotic spot virus (CCSV), was isolated from calla lilies (Zantedeschia spp.) in Taiwan. Chlorotic and yellow spots appear on the middle leaves of the affected plants. Virions measuring 75 to 105 nm similar to tospovirus particles are present in crude extracts and ultrathin sections of diseased leaves. Of 35 plant species inoculated mechanically, 24 including wax gourd (Benincasa hispida) and zucchini squash (Cucurbita pepo) are susceptible to the virus. Experimentally, CCSV is transmitted from infected wax gourd by Thrips palmi to healthy wax gourd and zucchini squash. The virus is weakly related to Watermelon silver mottle virus (WSMoV) in ELISA and western blot tests. WSMoV-specific N gene primers, however, fail to produce DNA fragments from total RNA extracts of CCSV-infected plants in reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results of RT-PCR show that the conserved regions of the L genes among tospoviruses are present in CCSV.