Peppers under Siege: Revealing the Prevalence of Viruses and Discovery of a Novel Potyvirus Species in Venezuela

Eduardo Rodríguez-Román, Yrvin León, Yearlys Perez, Paola Amaya, Alexander Mejías, Jose Orlando Montilla, Rafael Ortega, Karla Zambrano, Barlin Orlando Olivares () and Edgloris Marys ()
Additional contact information
Eduardo Rodríguez-Román: Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Virología Vegetal, Centro de Microbiologia y Biologia Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1204, Venezuela
Yrvin León: Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Virología Vegetal, Centro de Microbiologia y Biologia Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1204, Venezuela
Yearlys Perez: Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Virología Vegetal, Centro de Microbiologia y Biologia Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1204, Venezuela
Paola Amaya: Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Virología Vegetal, Centro de Microbiologia y Biologia Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1204, Venezuela
Alexander Mejías: Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Virología Vegetal, Centro de Microbiologia y Biologia Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1204, Venezuela
Jose Orlando Montilla: Decanato de Agronomía, Cátedra de Fitopatología, Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado (UCLA), Barquisimeto 3001, Venezuela
Rafael Ortega: Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Virología Vegetal, Centro de Microbiologia y Biologia Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1204, Venezuela
Karla Zambrano: Decanato de Agronomía, Cátedra de Biología, Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado (UCLA), Barquisimeto 3001, Venezuela
Barlin Orlando Olivares: Biodiversity Management Research Group (GESBIO-UCO), Rabanales Campus, University of Cordoba (UCO), Carretera Nacional IV, km 396, 14014 Cordoba, Spain
Edgloris Marys: Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Virología Vegetal, Centro de Microbiologia y Biologia Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas 1204, Venezuela

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-19

Abstract: Many plant virus outbreaks have been recorded in the last two decades, threatening food security around the world. During pepper production seasons in 2008, 2014, and 2022, virus outbreaks were reported from Lara (western) and Miranda (central) states in Venezuela. Three hundred seventy-three plants exhibiting virus-like symptoms were collected and tested for virus infection through reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). The most prevalent viruses during the 2008 surveys conducted in Lara were potato virus Y (PVY, 66.25%), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, 57.50%), pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV, 35%), alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV, 23.75%), and tobacco rattle virus (TRV, 17.50%). This survey revealed for the first time that pepper is a natural host of AMV and TRV in Venezuela. A further, divergent potyvirus isolate was also detected in 23.75% of pepper plants from Lara state. In 2014, a follow-up survey after virus outbreaks reported in Lara and Miranda states also detected this divergent potyvirus isolate in 21.68% of pepper plants, with tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and PMMoV dominating the viral landscape (62.65 and 21.68% of tested plants, respectively). By comparison, the surveys revealed significant changes in viral community composition. The complete capsid protein (CP) sequence of the putative potyvirus was obtained from two pepper samples. According to the Potyvirus taxonomic criteria, these results suggest that the isolate represents a distinct virus species, for which we propose the name “pepper severe mottle virus” (PepSMoV). Virus outbreaks could be attributed to agricultural and environmental factors, such as climate change, the use of wastewater, the use of uncertified seeds, misuse of agricultural chemicals, transmission with food trade networks, and the development of new viral strains due to mutations and recombination and pathogen spillover. This study demonstrates the value of knowledge of the prevalence and distribution of viral species to recommend virus-resistant cultivars to replace susceptible ones, especially in virus hotspot areas.

Keywords: diagnostic; disease; pepper; ribonucleic acid; survey; viruses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/14825/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/14825/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:20:p:14825-:d:1258757

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().