Investigation on the Spread of the Spanish Strain of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus TYLCSV-ES in Greenhouses Along the Syrian Coast

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is one of the most destructive plant viruses which infect a large number of vegetable crops in greenhouses causing significant economic losses. A survey was conducted to identify TYLCV strains which infect tomato plants (Solanum lycopesicum L.) in greenhouses along the Syrian coast. PCR results using specific primer pair TYAlmv2516/TYAlmc115 confirmed the presence of Spanish strain (TYLCSV-ES)́ iń 6́ out́ of́ thé 19́ tested́ samples,́ whereaś otheŕ sampleś didn’t́ react́ with́ this primer pair. Phylogenetic tree showed that the isolates To11 and To18 collected from Tartous province clustered in the same subgroup with 99.1% nucleotide identity, and this subgroup clustered in one group with TYLCSV-ES 5a [LN846598] from Morocco with 97% and 97.4% nucleotide identities, respectively. Local isolate To6 collected from Lattakia province clustered in the same subgroup with TYLCSV-ES [L27708] from Almeria (Spain) with 99.5% nucleotides identity. Keywords: Spanish strain, Tomato yellow leaf curl virus, tomato, greenhouses, Syrian coast