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First Report of Iris yellow spot virus in Onion in Mauritius

Iris yellow spot virus (IYSV; family Bunyaviridae, genus Tospovirus) transmitted by thrips (Thrips tabaci Lindeman) is an economically important viral pathogen of bulb and seed onion (Allium cepa) crops in many onion-growing areas of the world (2,3). In Africa, IYSV has been reported in Reunion (4) and South Africa (1). In June 2008, diamond-shaped lesions that are typical of IYSV were observed on onion seed scapes in an onion plot of 0.25 ha at Reduit in the central part of Mauritius. Disease incidence was 80% with a severity of 50 to 75% of the scape surface area. Lodging was observed in 25% of the symptomatic plants. Twenty-two symptomatic plants were tested and found to be positive for IYSV when tested by double antibody sandwich (DAS)-ELISA with a commercially available kit (Agdia Inc., Elkhart, IN). The presence of the virus was confirmed by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR tests with primers 917L: 5′-TAAAACTTAACTAACACAAA-3′ and 56U: 5′-TCCTAAGTATTCACCAT-3′ as forward and reverse primers, respectively, for specific sequences flanking the CP gene. Another set of primers specific to the small (S) RNA of IYSV (5′-TAAAACAAACATTCAAACAA-3′ and 5′-CTCTTAAACACATTT AACAAGCAC-3′) produced an amplicon of approximately 1.2 kb that includes the 772-bp nucleocapsid (N) gene. The 1.2-kb amplicon was cloned and four clones were sequenced and consensus sequence was used for comparisons. Sequence analysis showed that the N gene of the IYSV isolate from Mauritius (GenBank Accession No. HM218822) shared the highest nucleotide sequence identity (99%) with several known IYSV N gene sequences (Accession Nos. FJ785835 and AM900393) available in the GenBank, confirming the presence of IYSV in the onion crops in Mauritius. A survey was subsequently carried out from July to November 2008 in major onion-growing localities at La Marie, Henrietta, Reduit, and Plaine Sophie (center); Bassin, La Ferme, and La Chaumiere (west); Grand Sable, Petit Sable, and Plaisance (south, southeast); and Belle Mare, Trou d'Eau Douce, and Palmar (east) to monitor the distribution of the disease on the island. Symptomatic samples with diamond-to-irregularly shaped lesions were observed and 155 symptomatic and 35 nonsymptomatic samples were collected and screened by DAS-ELISA for IYSV and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), another tospovirus reported to infect onion elsewhere. Sixty-six percent of the symptomatic samples screened (102 of 155) tested positive for IYSV. No IYSV was detected in the symptomless samples. There was no serological indication of TSWV infection in the samples. Samples that tested positive for IYSV were collected from Belle mare, Palmar, and Trou d'eau douce in the east and La Ferme in the west. Cultivars infected were Gandiole, Local Red, and Veronique. No IYSV was detected in the bulbs. The vector, T. tabaci, was observed in infected onion parcels surveyed and is known to occur in all onion-producing areas of the island. To our knowledge, this is the first report of IYSV in onion in Mauritius. Further surveys and monitoring of IYSV incidence, along with its impact on the yield, need to be established.

References: (1) L. J. du Toit et al. Plant Dis. 91:1203, 2007. (2) D. H. Gent et al. Plant Dis. 88:446, 2004. (3) H. R. Pappu et al. Virus Res. 141:219, 2009. (4) I. Robène-Soustrade et al. Plant Pathol. 55:288, 2006.