The wheat dwarf India virus-betasatellite complex has a wider host range than previously reported

Authors: KUMAR, JITENDRA - University Of Minnesota; SACHIN, KUMAR - Chaudhary Charan Singh University; Kianian, Shahryar

Submitted to: Plant Health Progress
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2020
Publication Date: 4/24/2020
Citation: Kumar, J., Sachin, K., Kianian, S.F. 2020. The wheat dwarf India virus-betasatellite complex has a wider host range than previously reported. Plant Health Progress. 21(2):119-122. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-10-19-0080-RS.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-10-19-0080-RS

Interpretive Summary: Viruses present a major disease problem in wheat growing areas of the world. Wheat dwarf India virus (WDIV) is a monocot infecting mastrevirus and has been reported to infect wheat in India and with our recent report in Pakistan. To better understand the host range of this pathogen samples from barley and sugarcane plant showing symptoms in addition to wheat were collected from India during 2017-18 growing season from farmers and research fields. The symptomatic plants showed either dwarfing, yellowing or both as reported previously. To best of our knowledge, this is the first report of presence of WDIV and the betasatellite in barley and sugarcane in natural field infection. WDIV detected from the barley, sugarcane and wheat have high similarity (98 to 99%) at the nucleotide sequence level. This shows that WDIV is well equipped with the capability to infect multiple hosts and has much wider host range than previously thought. Moreover, the presence and involvement of a betasatellite in severe symptoms of WDIV can have serious implications for the economic impact of the virus on many crops. It will be interesting to examine more barley, sugarcane and wheat samples as well as samples of other plant species from much broader geographical regions for the presence of satellites with WDIV.

Technical Abstract: Wheat dwarf India virus (WDIV) and associated alphasatellite and betasatellite have been documented to infect wheat (Triticum aestivum) but not other crops. Here, we report, for the first time, presence of WDIV and the associated Ageratum yellow leaf curl betasatellite (AYLCB) in barley (Hordeum vulgare) and sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) in addition to wheat. However, surprisingly, previously reported alphasatellites were not detected in the WDIV positive barley, sugarcane and wheat samples. The virus and betasatellite detected from barley, sugarcane and wheat were highly similar to the previously reported WDIV and AYLCB. Findings of the present study reveal that WDIV may have much wider host range than previously documented.