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First Report of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus-Is (TYLCV-Is) in the Canary Islands

In autumn of 1999 and winter-spring 2000, tomato (Lycopersicon) crops grown in the Regions of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Tenerife (Canary Islands) showed upward curling of leaves, yellowing of leaf margins, crumpling of new leaves, reduction of leaflet area, and stunting of shoots. These symptoms were similar to those described for tomato yellow leaf curl disease. Symptomatic samples were collected from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (33 samples) and Tenerife (45 samples) for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) identification analysis. The degenerate primers pair of Begomovirus (AV494/AC1048) (3) was used to amplify the “core” region of the capsid protein gene. Two tomato plants experimentally infected with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus-Is (TYLCVIs) or TYLCV-Sar served as positive controls. Electrophoretic analysis of all samples showed a single fragment of the expected size (550 bp). To identify the type of TYLCV (TYLCV-Sar or TYLCV-Is), the PCR products were digested by endonucleases (AluI, HaeIII, HpaII, RsaI, Sau3A, TaqI, DdeI, and ScrFI). Twenty-six samples from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria showed the same restriction pattern of TYLCV-Sar, and seven samples from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and all 45 samples from Tenerife showed the same restriction pattern of TYLCV-Is. These results confirm that TYLCV-Sar and TYLCV-Is are present in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and TYLCV-Is is present in Tenerife. The presence of TYLCV-Is in Morocco (2) and TYLCV-Sar in the Canary Islands and Morocco has been recently described (1). However, this is the first report of TYLCV-Is in the Canary Islands.

References: (1) F. Monci et al. Plant Dis. 84:490, 2000. (2) M. Peterschmitt et al. Plant Dis. 83:1074, 1999. (3) S. D. Wyatt et al. Phytopathology 86:1288, 1996.