Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) plants exhibiting severe stunting and leaves that showed interveinal yellowing, thickening, and deformation were found in an experimental trial adjacent to an artichoke field in Monterey County, CA in October of 2008. Percent incidence of symptomatic plants ranged from 20 to 39% in cvs. Bordeaux, Lazio, and Tigercat. Symptomatic plants were positive for Impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV; family Bunyaviridae, genus Tospovirus) and were negative for Tomato spotted wilt virus, Cucumber mosaic virus, and Tobacco mosaic virus when tested with immunostrips (Agdia Inc., Elkhart, IN). The INSV-positive spinach was used for mechanical transmission to Nicotiana benthamiana, Chenopodium quinoa, and spinach. All inoculated plants were positive for INSV with immunostrips. To further confirm the presence of INSV, reverse transcription (RT)-PCR was conducted. Total RNA was extracted from the symptomatic spinach plants using a RNeasy Plant Kit (Qiagen Inc., Valencia, CA) and used as a template in RT-PCR using forward (5′-GGATGTAAGCCCTTCTTTGTAGTGG-3′) and reverse (5′-CCTTCCAAGTCACCCTCTGATTG-3′) primers specific to the INSV nucleoprotein (N) gene (GenBank Accession No. DQ425096). Amplicons of the expected size (approximately 364 bp) were obtained from both field-infected and mechanically inoculated spinach plants. Four amplicons were sequenced and compared with INSV N gene sequence in GenBank to confirm the identity of the products. Sequences obtained had 99% nucleotide identity with INSV sequences available under the GenBank Accession Nos. L20885, DQ523597, DQ523598, X66872, L20886, D00914, AB109100, and DQ425096. INSV can be one of the most serious viral pathogens of ornamental plants in North America and Europe. The host range of INSV is expanding and recent reports of INSV infection of vegetables include lettuce, peppers, peanut, and potato (1--4). To our knowledge, this is the first report of natural occurrence of INSV in spinach in California. Since INSV is vectored by thrips, its expanding natural host could make it an economically important problem in California and the United States.
References: (1) S. T. Koike et al. Plant Dis. 92:1248, 2008. (2) R. A. Naidu et al. Online publication. doi:10.1094/PHP-2005-0727-01-HN, Plant Health Progress, 2005. (3) S. S Pappu et al. Plant Dis. 83:966, 1999. (4) K. L. Perry et al. Plant Dis. 89:340, 2005.
