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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Plant Pathology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #423977
Research Project: Mitigation of Domestic, Exotic, and Emerging Diseases of Subtropical and Temperate Horticultural Crops

Location: Subtropical Plant Pathology Research

Title: First report of Poinsettia mosaic virus and Poinsettia latent virus in crown of thorns in Florida

Author
item HYPOLITE, VERONICA - Indian River State College
item Lopez Jr, Salvador
item Bock, Clive
item Adkins, Scott

Submitted to: Plant Health Progress
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/19/2025
Publication Date: 11/26/2025
Citation: Hypolite, V., Lopez Jr, S., Bock, C.H., Adkins, S.T. First report of Poinsettia mosaic virus and Poinsettia latent virus in crown of thorns in Florida. Plant Health Progress. 26:687–688. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-04-25-0132-BR.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHP-04-25-0132-BR

Interpretive Summary: This is the first report of Poinsettia mosaic virus infecting Crown of Thorns in Florida. Descriptions of the symptoms caused, and diagnostic methods used are included. This report provides a timely account of this recently described tymovirus and its potential to cause economic losses in ornamental crops to growers, Extension personnel, and local and Federal regulatory and research scientists.

Technical Abstract: In February 2024, Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii) plants with various viral disease symptoms including chlorotic flecking, mottling, and chlorotic ringspots on leaves, and color-break of flowers, were observed at commercial nurseries and residential plantings. Several sets of degenerate potyvirus or tymovirus primers amplified products of the expected size by RT-PCR from multiple plants. Nucleotide sequences of these amplicons were 97-98% identical to the corresponding region of Euphorbia ringspot virus (EuRSV), or 95-98% identical to the corresponding region of Poinsettia mosaic virus (PnMV). Although EuRSV has previously been reported in Crown of Thorns, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of PnMV in Crown of Thorns in Florida.