December 2, 2003
From: American Phytopathological Society, Plant Disease Notes [edited]


First report of tomato yellow leaf curl virus in tomato in Guadeloupe
C. Urbino and K. Tassius, CIRAD FLHOR-INRA, Domaine Duclos, Petit Bourg, Guadeloupe. Plant Dis. 87:1397, 2003; published on-line as D-2003-0915-01N, 2003. Accepted for publication 29 Jul 2003.

In September 2001, symptoms of stunting and chlorotic curled leaves of reduced size were observed on tomato plants in Guadeloupe. These symptoms were different from those described for Potato yellow mosaic virus, which has been present since 1993, but similar to those described for Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV).

Samples from symptomatic plants were collected and analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Primers PC1 (5' TGA CTA TGT CGA AGC GAC CAGG-3') and PC2 (5'- CGA CAT TAC AGC CTC AGA CTGG-3') were designed to amplify a 950-bp fragment within the coat protein gene (CP) of TYLCV-IL species (2). Primer pair MP16/MP82 (3) amplified a 550-bp fragment from the conserved nonanucleotide sequence (TAATATTAC) to the 5' end of the CP gene.

Products of expected sizes were obtained with both pairs of primers from all symptomatic samples but not from uninfected samples. A 950-bp and a 550-bp PCR product were cloned into a pGEM-T Easy Vector (Promega, Madison, WI) and sequenced with plasmid specific primers (SP6 and T7). Sequences were compared with those available in the NCBI database using BlastN.

15 of the sequences that gave the highest score with BlastN were aligned with the Guadeloupe sequences using Clustal W. The nucleotide sequence of the 950-bp fragment (GenBank Accession No. AY319645) shared at least 97 percent sequence identity with that of TYLCV from Israel (EMBL Accession No. X15656), Puerto Rico (GenBank Accession No. AY134494), Cuba (EMBL Accession No. AJ223505), and the Dominican Republic (GenBank Accession No. AF024715). Similar percentages of identity were obtained with the 550-bp sequence (GenBank Accession No. AY319646).

These results confirm that a begomovirus belonging to the species TYLCV-Israel is infecting tomato in Guadeloupe.

To our knowledge, this is the first report of TYLCV in this region of the Caribbean. Puerto Rico is the closest location from which TYLCV was previously reported (1). In May 2002, typical TYLCV symptoms were observed in all tomato production areas at an incidence of 80-100 percent.

References:
(1) J. Bird et al. Plant Dis. 85:1028, 2001.
(2) Y. Martinez et al. Rev. Prot. Veg. 18:168, 2003.
(3) P. Umaharan et al. Phytopathology 88:1262, 1998.

[TYLCV, an Old World virus first described in Israel in 1964, was apparently unwittingly introduced into the Caribbean region in the early 1990s and continues to cause severe damage to tomato crops in the New World. Its introduction into the region is an excellent example of the interaction between the whitefly vectors (_Bemisia tabaci_and _B. argentifolii_) and tomato that results in rapid spread of a geminivirus. It is present in most Mediterranean countries and parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Japan, Australia, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, and locally in the U.S. states of Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana. Disease management involves use of virus-free transplants, control of the whitefly vector with chemical insecticides, application of strict phytosanitary measures, and planting of virus-tolerant cultivars. - Mod.DH]