Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

In May 2014, mottling and chlorotic spots with necrotic margins were observed on the leaves of fig plants growing outdoor and private gardens in the Karaj district of Alburz (Iran). Based on symptoms, the involvement of Fig badnavirus-1 [FBV-1 (genus Badnavirus, family Caulimoviridae)] in disease aetiology was suspected. Mechanical inoculations of crude sap from symptomatic leaves extracted in 0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 7.2 containing 0.01 % Na2SO3 induced a mild mosaic in Cucumis sativus, vein clearing in Cucurbita pepo and Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun, whereas Phaseolus vulgaris remained symptomless. Twenty leaf samples from five fig gardens were randomly collected and tested for the presence of FBV-1 by PCR using total DNA extracted from leaf samples (Dellaporta et al., 1983) and primers 580F/1650R as described by Laney et al. (2012). Two out of the 20 samples tested proved to be infected with FBV-1, as shown by amplification of a 1070 bp DNA fragment encompassing ORF1, ORF2 and ORF3 of the viral genome. BLAST analysis of the FBV-1 sequences from Iran (GenBank accession Nos. KM610208 and KM610209) showed 98% and 91-97% identity at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively, with the corresponding FBV-1 sequences available in GenBank. The presence of FBV-1 was also confirmed by PCR in inoculated herbaceous indicators. FBV-1 is known to occur in fig trees in different countries worldwide (Minafra et al., 2012), however, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first record from Iran.