Okra (Abelmoscus esculentus (L.) Moench) is an important vegetable crop of India and other subropical and tropical countries. In 2000 and 2001, in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, okra was severely affected by a new disease. Since that time, the disease has spread to other states: Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Maharashtra. Chlorotic spots, chlorotic leaf blotches, distortion of leaves, chlorotic streaking, distortion of fruits, and severe yield losses as much as 63% characterize the disease. The causal virus induces local and systemic chlorotic and necrotic lesions on Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. cv. C-152 and Chenopodium amaranticolor Coste & Reyne., chlorotic local lesions and mosaic on Cucumis sativus L., necrotic local lesions on Gossypium hirsutum L. and black gram (Vigna mungo L.), and chlorotic local lesions and systemic necrosis on sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Host reactions on these species are similar to those described for the ilarvirus Tobacco streak virus (TSV) (3). Electron microscopic observation of leafdip preparations from field samples and partially purified virus preparations revealed the presence of isometric virus particles measuring 25 to 30 nm in diameter. The virus was purified from mechanically inoculated okra by differential and sucrose density gradient centrifugation, and disease symptoms were reproduced in okra mechanically inoculated with the purified virus. In direct antigen coated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunosorbent electron microscopy tests, the purified virus and sap extracts reacted positively with polyclonal antibodies to TSV, the ilarvirus associated with sunflower necrosis and peanut stem necrosis diseases (1,2), but did not react positively to Turnip mosaic virus and Okra mosaic virus that are previously reported to infect okra. In reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), using oligonucleotide primers designed to amplify the entire coat protein region of TSV, an approximately 800-bp DNA fragment was obtained from purified virus and okra displaying fruit distortion mosaic disease (OFDM) but not from healthy okra. On the basis of host range, serological relationship, electron microscopy, and RTPCR amplification, the virus causing OFDM is an ilarvirus closely related to TSV. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the occurrence of an ilarvirus in okra, and is the third and most recent report of an ilarvirus related to TSV causing disease in crops on the Indian subcontinent (1,2).
References:(1). A. I. Bhat et al. Arch. Virol. 147:651, 2002. (2). A. S. Reddy et al. Plant Dis. 86:173, 2002. (3). S. W. Scott. Tobacco streak virus. No 381 in: Descriptions of Plant Viruses. CMI/AAB, Surrey, U.K., 2001.
