Poster: Biology & Disease Mgmt: Virology
111-P
Interactions between Bell pepper endornavirus and acute viruses
C. ESCALANTE (1), R. Valverde (1) (1) Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, U.S.A.
Persistent plant viruses do not cause detectable symptoms in their plant hosts. In contrast, acute viruses cause symptoms, and in most cases, disease. Most bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) cultivars are infected with the persistent virus Bell pepper endornavirus (BPEV). To study possible interactions between endornaviruses and acute viruses, we developed two near-isogenic lines of the bell pepper cultivar Marengo; one BPEV-infected and the other BPEV-free. The two lines were mechanically inoculated individually, with a mild (M) and a severe (S) isolate of the acute virus Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV). Symptoms were recorded and relative amounts of PMMoV determined by ELISA. When the two lines were inoculated with PMMoV-M, all plants reacted with mosaic symptoms. In contrast, when PMMoV-S was inoculated, BPEV-free plants reacted with systemic necrosis and mosaic while BPEV-infected plants reacted only with mosaic. Results of the ELISA test showed that plants of the BPEV-infected line yielded consistently less PMMoV than plants of the BPEV-free line; however, the differences were not statistically significant. The two bell pepper lines were also inoculated with Tomato spotted wilt virus, Potato virus Y, Cucumber mosaic virus, and Tobacco mosaic virus, and in all cases, plants reacted with similar symptoms. Results obtained in this investigation suggest that BPEV inhibit the systemic necrotic reaction of Marengo bell pepper caused by PMMoV-S.