Fig mosaic disease symptom severity expression is likely to be controlled by a combination of fig mosaic virus infection, cultivars, and environmental factors, rather than the number of viruses infecting the plant, a new study carried out by a group of researchers from BERC, and Istituto Agronomico Mediterraneo di Bari, reveals.
“Jamous, Rana M.; Abu-Zaitoun, Salam Y.; Mallah, Omar B.; Shtaya, Munqez;, Elbeaino, Toufic; Ali-Shtayeh, M. S. Detection and phylogenetic analysis of viruses linked with fig mosaic disease in seventeen fig cultivars in Palestine. The Plant Pathology Journal (In Press; Accepted 21 Apr 2020)”
In this study, the leaves of all surveyed fig cultivars in Palestine displayed Fig Mosaic Disease (FMD) with various severities. After RT-PCR and sequencing, among the detected viruses, evidence was attained for the occurrence of four viruses: FMV, FBV-1, FLMaV-2, and FFkaV. FMV and FBV-1 were the most prevalent viruses, being found in all the tested fig cultivars. FLMaV-2 was the second most pervasive; it was present in all surveyed cultivars, excluding Khortmani, Mwazi, Ghzali, Sfari. The incidence of FFkaV was low in the tested fig plants. All of the viruses were present in combination with other viruses. Concerning the processed binary images of the %LAWS, there were diverse responses in symptom expression in the FM trees of the seventeen fig cultivars. These results support the notion that FMD symptoms severity might be closely associated with cultivar type, rather than the number of viruses infecting the plant.
In the framework of this study, BERC has also published the sequences of the four viruses