Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

In 2010 and 2011 eggplants with virus-like symptoms includ- ing leaf distortion, mosaic and stunting were observed in four fields in the province of Tehran (Iran). A total of 104 sympto- matic leaf samples were collected and analyzed by DAS-ELISA and dot-blot assay (DIBA) for the presence of Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), Arabis mosaic virus (ArMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Tomato ringspot virus (ToRSV) using specific polyclonal antibodies (Agdia, USA). Results showed the presence of ToRSV in 23% of the samples tested while ArMV, CMV and ToMV were not detected. ToRSV isolates were mechanically in- oculated on the leaves of Gomphrena globosa and Chenopodium quinoa, two local lesions hosts, and after two cycles of single local lesion isolation, they were transferred to Cucumis sativus, Chenopodium amaranticolor, Lycopersicon esculentum and Solanum melongena. Inoculations resulted in systemic mosaic and mottle in C. sativus; necrotic local lesions in Chenopodium ama- ranticolor; leaf distortion and stunting in L. esculentum; mosaic, mottle and stunting in S. melongena. The presence of ToRSV was confirmed in inoculated plants by ELISA and RT-PCR using total RNA from symptomatic leaf tissues as template and specific primers designed on the sequence of the coat protein gene (Samuitiene et al., 2003). The ToRSV specific RT-PCR fragment 499 bp in size was amplified from symptomatic eggplants and in- dicator plants. Although ToRSV was previously reported from tomato in Iran (Safaeizadeh and Saidi, 2011), this is the first record of this virus infecting eggplant in the country.