Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

A virus survey was carried out in spring and summer 2010 in Syrian fig orchards and gardens in 9 cities and in a varietal collection at Idleb. A total of 90 fig samples were collected and tested by RT-PCR for the presence of Fig leaf mottle-associated virus 1 (FLMaV-1), Fig leaf mottle-associated virus 2 (FLMaV-2), Fig mild mottleassociated virus (FMMaV), Fig mosaic virus (FMV), Fig latent virus 1 (FLV-1), Fig cryptic virus (FCV), Fig fleck-associated virus (FFkaV), and Hop stunt viroid (HSVd) using sets of specific primers. PCR results showed that about 84% of the trees were infected with at least one virus. FMV was the prevailing virus (56.7%), followed by FFkaV (36.7%), FLMaV-2 (31.1%), FMMaV (12.2%), FLV-1 (11.1%) and FLMaV-1 (4.4%), whereas FCV was not found. HSVd was detected in 13.3% of the samples. In a phylogenetic tree, the nucleotide sequences of most Syrian HSVd-fig isolates grouped with those reported in Lebanon from the same host and from mulberry, forming a distinct clade (M-group). This is the first report of FMMaV, FMV, FLV-1 and HSVd in fig trees in Syria.