Confirmation of the Transmissibility of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus from a Resistant Tomato Cultivar Grown in a Greenhouse

Abstract

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) vectored by the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci, is a major threat to tomato production. Recently, some tomato growers cultivate a TYLCV-resistant cultivar for control of TYLCV in Chiba Prefecture. The effect of the Japanese commercial resistant cultivar on TYLCV epidemiology has not been well understood. Therefore, the role of the TYLCV infected resistant tomato cultivar on viral acquisition and transmission by its vector was studied in a tomato grower’s greenhouse. The viral copy number in resistant tomato leaf was 1.4×10⁷-5.6×10⁸ TYLCV DNA copies per 1μg total leaf DNA. In line with the high copy numbers, viral acquisition rate of whiteflies obtained from the greenhouse was 85.7%. Furthermore, these whiteflies transmitted TYLCV to the TYLCV-susceptible cultivar. It is highly probable that the TYLCVresistant tomato cultivar could be the reservoirs for TYLCV.