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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1469453
This article is part of the Research Topic Plant Viruses and Viroids: Molecular Biology, Ecology and Pathogenicity View all 3 articles

Molecular characterization of wheat dwarf virus isolates from Serbia based on complete genome sequences

Provisionally accepted
Ivana Stankovic Ivana Stankovic 1*Katarina Zečević Katarina Zečević 1Danijela Ristić Danijela Ristić 2Ivan Vučurović Ivan Vučurović 2Branka Krstić Branka Krstić 1
  • 1 University of Belgrade-Faculty of Agriculture, Institute of Phytomedicine, Department of Phytopathology, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia
  • 2 Institute for Plant Protection and Environment, Department of Plant Diseases, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Wheat dwarf virus (WDV), the species Mastrevirus hordei of the genus Mastrevirus in the family Geminiviridae, is a cereal virus commonly detected in several European, African and Asian countries that causes economic losses. In the spring of 2019, a severe outbreak of wheat dwarfing and yellowing was observed in many winter wheat crops across Serbia. A total of 161 samples were tested for the presence of WDV and other common wheat viruses using double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA), and WDV was detected in all samples collected from 21 sites in all nine districts surveyed. Further molecular characterization based on complete genome sequencing of 23 selected isolates showed that the Serbian WDV isolates had low nucleotide diversity and were closely related to wheat-infecting isolates from Europe, suggesting the presence of wheat-adapted forms of WDV in Serbia. The constructed phylogenetic tree revealed that Serbian isolates grouped in clade E within the wheat-adapted forms. This study provided the first insight into the genetic structure of WDV in Serbia based on its whole genome sequence. Further studies on the vector biology and population dynamics are needed to better understand the factors influencing the emergence and spread of WDV under local agroecological conditions.

    Keywords: wheat, DAS-ELISA, RT-PCR, genetic diversity, phylogeny

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 28 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Stankovic, Zečević, Ristić, Vučurović and Krstić. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ivana Stankovic, University of Belgrade-Faculty of Agriculture, Institute of Phytomedicine, Department of Phytopathology, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia

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