Biological and Molecular Characterization of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) on Tomato Plants in the State of Palestine

Abstract

The incidence of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) and biological and molecular characterization of the Palestinian isolates of ToBRFV are described in this study. Symptomatic leaf samples obtained from Solanum lycopersicum L. (tomatoes) and Nicotiana tabacum L. (cultivated tobacco) plants were tested for tobamoviruses infection by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Tomato leaf samples collected from Tulkarm and Qalqilia are infected with ToBRFV-PAL with an infection rate of 76% and 72.5%, respectively. Leaf samples collected from Jenin and Nablus were found to be mixed infected with ToBRFV-PAL and Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) (100%). Sequence analysis of the ToBRFV-PAL genome showed that the net average nucleotide divergence between ToBRFV/F48-PAL strain and the Israeli and Turkish strains was 0.0026398±0.0006638 (±standard error of mean), while it was 0.0033066±0.0007433 between ToBRFV/F42-PAL and these two isolates. In the phylogenetic tree constructed with the complete genomic sequence, all the ToBRFV isolates were clustered together and formed a sister branch with the TMV. The sequenced Palestinian isolates of ToBRFV-PAL shared the highest nucleotide identity with the Israeli ToBRFV isolate suggesting that the virus was introduced to Palestine from Israel. The findings of this study enhance our understanding of the biological and molecular characteristics of ToBRFV which would help in the management of the disease.