Full genome sequence of a chrysanthemum-infecting tomato spotted wilt virus isolate from Zimbabwe obtained by...

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is an economically important pathogen of many crops worldwide. However, prior to this study, only one complete genome sequence of an African TSWV isolate was available in public databases. This limits genetic diversity and evolutionary studies of the pathogen on the continent. TSWV was detected in symptomatic Zimbabwean chrysanthemum plants using late-ral flow kits. The presence of the pathogen was subsequently confirmed by double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Total RNAs for RT-PCR and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were extracted using an RNA extraction kit. NGS performed on an Illumina HiSeq platform was used to recover the full TSWV genome and analyzed by different software packages. The tripartite genome of the Zimbabwe TSWV isolate consisted of L, M and S RNAs of 8914, 4824 and 2968 nucleotides, respectively. This isolate shared highest protein and nucleotide sequence identities with the isolate LK-1 from neighboring South Africa. The Zimbabwe TSWV isolate was found to be a non-recombinant and non-resistance-breaking. This study provides the first full genome of TSWV from Zimbabwe. It also adds useful information towards understanding the evolution of the pathogen. Keywords: Africa; tospovirus; phylogenetic analysis; recombination; virus identification.