Browsing by Subject "Iran"

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    Identification of phytoplasmas associated with cultivated and ornamental plants in Kerman Province, Iran
    (Wiley, 2010) Tazehkand, Susan Asghari; Pour, Akbar Hossein; Heydarnejad, Jahangir; Varsani, Arvind; Massumi, Hossain
    Hossain Kerman Province is a major agricultural centre in south-eastern Iran and an increase in agricultural activities results in an increase in disease. We report phytoplasmal infections in Iran of five plant species; spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), canola (Brassica napus L.), cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) and Aegean wallflower (Erysimum cheiri (L.) Crantz; Family Brassicaceae) using in silico restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequence analysis. Amplicons of approximately 300 bp were amplified using polymerase chain reaction ampli- fication with universal P3 ⁄ P7 primer pair. The ampli- fied products were cloned and sequenced. On the basis of in silico restriction analysis of the amplicon digested with 17 distinct restriction enzymes and 16 ⁄ 23S spacer region sequence, Erysimum and cucumber phyllodies (EPh and CuPh2, respectively) were 100% identical and showed closest similarity with members of the peanut witches-broom group (16SrII). Whereas spinach yellows (SpY) and canola phyllody (CaPh) revealed closest homology with phytoplasmas of the aster yellows group (AY) 16SrI. Mixed infections of the SuWB sample were confirmed in which two different phytoplasmas belonging to 16SrII and 16SrVI groups were found. This is the first report of phytoplasmal infection of Aegean wallflower (EPh) caused by a phytoplasma belonging to the 16SrII group. While spinach phytoplasmas have been isolated in the past; however, our isolate from spinach belonging to the 16SrI group is the first spinach isolate from Iran.
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    The spread of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus from the Middle East to the world
    (Public Library of Science, 2010) Lefeuvre, Pierre; Martin, Darren P; Harkins, Gordon; Lemey, Philippe; Gray, Alistair J A; Meredith, Sandra; Lakay, Francisco; Monjane, Adérito; Lett, Jean-Michel; Varsani, Arvind
    Author Summary Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) poses a serious threat to tomato production throughout the temperate regions of the world. Our analysis, using a suite of bioinformatic tools applied to all publically available TYLCV genome sequences, suggests that the virus probably arose somewhere in the Middle East between the 1930s and 1950s and that its global spread only began in the 1980s after the emergence of two strains - TYLCV-Mld and -IL. In agreement with others, we also find that the highly invasive TYLCV-IL strain has jumped at least twice to the Americas - once from the Mediterranean basin in the early 1990s and once from Asia in the early 2000s. Although our results corroborate historical accounts of TYLCV-like symptoms in tomato crops in the Jordan Valley in the late 1920s, they indicate that the region around Iran is both the current center of TYLCV diversity and is the site where the most intensive ongoing TYLCV evolution is taking place. However, our analysis indicates that this region is epidemiologically isolated suggesting that novel TYLCV variants found there are probably not direct global threats. Moreover, we identify the Mediterranean basin as the main launch-pad of global TYLCV movements.