Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

In 2014, a total of 77 persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) trees from Korean commercial orchards were surveyed for Persimmon cryptic virus (PeCV) and Persimmon virus A (PeVA). Leaf samples were collected from symptomatic trees with necrosis (two), or mosaic and leaf malformations (one) and 74 asymptomatic trees. Total RNAs were extracted using the NucliSENS easyMAG system (bioMérieux) and subjected to RT-PCR using specific primer pairs PeCV F/PeCV R (5’-TTCCAATGGCAGACCAAGG-3’/5’-TGTGTAGGTCGGATGACG-3’; design based on GenBank accession number HE805114) and PeVAfor/PeVArev (Morelli et al., 2014). PCR products of the expected sizes (526 bp and 250 bp for PeCV and PeVA, respectively) were directly sequenced. Results of RT-PCR revealed 67 PeCV (87%) and 11 PeVA (14.3%) positive samples, including nine samples with mixed infections of PeCV and PeVA. BLASTn of consensus sequences revealed 99% nucleotide sequence identity to Italian PeCV isolate SSPI (HE805114) and 98% to Japanese PeVA isolate (AB735628) respectively. The consensus sequences were deposited in GenBank as AB968365 (PeCV) and LC177111 (PeVA). Mixed infections of both viruses were detected in one plant showing vein necrosis, and in eight asymptomatic samples. To our knowledge, this is the first report of PeCV and PeCV infection of persimmon in Korea.