Advances in characterization and epidemiology of strawberry viruses and phytoplasmas in Argentina

VILMA CECILIA CONCI; CECILIA LUCIANI; MARCOS GIOVANI CELLI; MARIA CECILIA PEROTTO; ADA KARINA TORRICO; ELISABETH POZZI; GISELLA STRUMIA; A.C. DUGHETTI; FLORENCIA ASINARI; LUIS ROGELIO CONCI; FRANCO D. FERNANDEZ; SERGIO SALAZAR; NATALIA MENEGUZZI; DANIEL SANTIAGO KIRSCHBAUM

Quebec

Simposio; 8th International Strawberry Symposium ISHS; 2016

International Society for Horticultural Science - ISHS

The presence of systemic pathogens, such as viruses,in strawberry plants is a usual situation in production regions worldwide. Morethan 20 virus species have been cited infecting strawberries in differentcountries. Petiole-insertleaflet grafting tostrawberry virus indicator plants Fragaria vesca var. semperflorens (Duch.) ?Alpine?, F. vesca UC5 and F. virginiana UC12, has allowed detecting the presence of virus instrawberry plants collected from commercial farms in several locations ofArgentina. Strawberry mild yellow edgevirus (SMYEV), Strawberry mottle virus (SMoV),Strawberry crinkle virus (SCV) and Strawberry polerovirus 1 (SPV 1) havebeen identified and characterized using reverse transcription polymerase chainreaction (RT-PCR) with specific primers and sequencing parts or complete genomeof the viruses. Additionally, there is work in progress regarding thecharacterization of other viral particles found in strawberry plants. Epidemiologicalstudies allowed the detection of these viruses in different strawberryproducing regions of the country and in different cultivars, either in simpleor mixed infections. In parallel, numerous species of aphids (virus vectors),such as Aphis forbesi Weed, A. gossypii Glover, Chaetosiphon fragaefolii (Cockerell), C. minor (Forbes), C. thomasiHille Ris Lambers, Macrosiphum euphorbiae(Thomas) and Myzus persicae (Sulzer),have also been found in different strawberry growing regions of the country. The most generalized method for reducing thedamage caused by systemic pathogens in agamic propagated plants isthe use of pathogen-free plants obtained by meristem culture. For this reason, theInstituto Nacional de TecnologiaAgropecuaria (INTA) from Argentina have implemented a pathogen-free plantsproduction program, where plants are obtained by meristem culture in vitro. Later on, these plants aretransferred to ex vitro conditions(plugs with substrate) for rustication, and once adapted to this conditionplants are tested for virus and phytoplasm through grafting to indicator plantsand RT-PCR with specific primer tests for viruses and phytoplasms. Plants withnegative results to all the tests performed goes to the process of propagationin screenhouses under controlled environmental conditions, and then propagated ina greater scale in isolated locations (nurseries). This methodology allows notonly increasing fruit yield but also contributes to prevent pathogen dispersion.Works developed with grants from INTA, CONICET andFONCYT.