First Report of Garlic virus X in Garlic Plants in Brazil

Garlic is the fifth most economically important vegetable in Brazil and is frequently infected by a complex of different viruses that cause significant degeneration of the crop under field conditions. The species of the genus Allexivirus that infect garlic are: Garlic virus A (GarV-A), Garlic virus B (GarV-B), Garlic virus C (GarV-C), Garlic virus D (GarV-D), Garlic virus E (GarV-E), Garlic virus X (GarV-X), Garlic mite-borne filamentous viru s (GarMbFV), and Shallot virus X (ShVX). So far, only GarV-A, GarV-B, GarV-C, GarV-D, and GarMbFV have been reported in Brazil (3). During the 2010 through 2013 seasons, between April and October, 302 garlic plants with yellow mosaic strips and distorted leaves from the cultivars Caçador, Quitéria, Tropical Bergamota, and Tropical Shangai were collected in the states of Paraná, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Goiás and analyzed for the presence of allexiviruses. Total plant RNA was extracted with the Total RNA Purification kit (Norgen Biotek Corp., Canada) according to manufacturer's instructions. RT-PCR reactions were performed initially with the primer pair named Cpallexi-senso2 (5' CTACCACAAYGGNTCVTC 3') and Cpallexi-anti1 (5' CACNGCGTTRAAGAARTC 3') specifically designed to amplify a ~230-bp fragment from all currently known allexiviruses. Positive samples were then analyzed with specific primers for GarV-A, GarV-C, and GarV-D (2), GarMbFV (1) and GarV-B named CPBS2 (5' GCAGAATAARCCCCCYTC 3') and CPBA1 (5' RAAGGGTTTATTCTGTTG 3') obtained in this work. Among the plants analyzed, 50 were positive for the Cpallexi-senso2/Cpallexi-anti1 primers but negative for all the specific primers tested, indicating the presence of a different allexivirus. These samples were then analyzed by RT-PCR for the presence of GarV-X, GarV-E, and ShVX and an amplicon of ~550 bp was obtained only with primers CPXS2 (5' GCCTTCTGAAAATGACTTAG 3') and CPXA1 (5' CTAGGATTTGCTGTTGGG 3') designed in this work to amplify a fragment of the capsid protein gene for GarV-X. Since species demarcation in the genus Allexivirus is based on the coat protein (CP) gene (2), another set of primers, namely PIXS1 (GACGACGGYGCACTACTC) / PIXA1 (YGTGAATCGTGATGATCC) and PFXS2 (CRCTGAGACAATTYYGTGG) / PFXA2 (CAAAGCATCGGCCRTAGCG) derived from conserved regions of ORF4, ORF5 (CP), and ORF 6 sequences of allexiviruses available in the NCBI database, were used in RT-PCR to obtain the complete CP gene nucleotide sequence. A 1,071-nt sequence comprising 108 bp of ORF4 (partial), 732 bp of the CP, and 177 bp of ORF 6 was successfully amplified (GenBank Accession No. KF530328). The complete CP gene showed 98% nucleotide sequence identity with GarV-X from Australia (JQ807994.1). In summary, GarV-X was detected in the 50 samples collected from Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Paraná, indicating widespread distribution in Brazil. To our knowledge, this is the first report of GarV-X in garlic in Brazil. References: (1) M. S. Fayad-Andre et al. Trop. Plant Pathol. 36:341, 2011. (2) P. A. Melo Filho et al. Pesq. Agropec. Bras. 39:735, 2004. (3) R. J. Nascimento et al. Summa Phytopathol. 34:267, 2008.