Discovery of Viruses and Virus-Like Pathogens in Pistachio using High-Throughput Sequencing

Plant Dis. 2018 Jul;102(7):1419-1425. doi: 10.1094/PDIS-12-17-1988-RE. Epub 2018 May 21.

Abstract

Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) trees from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) and orchards in California were surveyed for viruses and virus-like agents by high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Analyses of sequence information from 60 trees identified a novel virus, provisionally named "Pistachio ampelovirus A" (PAVA), in the NCGR that showed low amino acid sequence identity (approximately 42%) compared with members of the genus Ampelovirus (family Closteroviridae). A putative viroid, provisionally named "Citrus bark cracking viroid-pistachio" (CBCVd-pis), was also found in the NCGR and showed approximately 87% similarity to Citrus bark cracking viroid (CBCVd, genus Cocadviroid, family Pospiviroidae). Both PAVA and CBCVd-pis were graft transmissible to healthy UCB-1 hybrid rootstock seedlings (P. atlantica × P. integerrima). A field survey of 123 trees from commercial orchards found no incidence of PAVA but five (4%) samples were infected with CBCVd-pis. Of 675 NCGR trees, 16 (2.3%) were positive for PAVA and 172 (25.4%) were positive for CBCVd-pis by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, several contigs across multiple samples exhibited significant sequence similarity to a number of other plant virus species in different families. These findings require further study and confirmation. This study establishes the occurrence of viral and viroid populations infecting pistachio trees.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • California
  • Capsid Proteins / genetics
  • Closteroviridae / classification
  • Closteroviridae / genetics
  • Closteroviridae / physiology*
  • Genome, Viral / genetics
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / methods*
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Phylogeny
  • Pistacia / classification
  • Pistacia / virology*
  • Plant Diseases / virology*
  • Plant Viruses / classification
  • Plant Viruses / genetics
  • Plant Viruses / physiology*
  • Species Specificity
  • Viroids / classification
  • Viroids / genetics
  • Viroids / physiology*

Substances

  • Capsid Proteins