Establishing a testing method for the aphid transmission of SPFMV and evaluating viral resistance in transgenic sweet potatoes

Abstract

The sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam., is the third most important root crop in the world after the potato and cassava. In particular, the sweet potato is not only an important crop in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions, but also an efficient biomass-producing plant for starch. The sweet potato is widely recognised as being prone to infection by sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV). Generally, SPFMV is transmitted by aphids (Myzus persicae), and the infected tuberous roots are used for vegetative propagation. However, neither the transmission of SPFMV using the aphid transmission test nor the aphid transmit theory itself has been established for sweet potato. The present study establishes a testing method for the aphid transmission of SPFMV and evaluates viral resistance in transgenic sweet potatoes. As a result of some examinations, we establish a testing method for resistance to SPFMV by aphid transmission in sweet potato. Furthermore, we evaluated the resistance to SPFMV in transgenic sweet potato using the improved aphid transmission method, and determined higher levels of resistance to SPFMVs in transgenic sweet potatoes. These results suggest that transgenic sweet potatoes show resistance to SPFMVs in the field.