title: Detection of Potato spindle tuber viroid sequence variants derived from PSTVd-infectedPhelipanche ramosain flower organs of tomato plants.
abstract: Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) is an infectious small, circular, non-coding single-stranded RNA that induces disease on many crop species, ornamental plants, weeds and parasitic plants. PSTVd propagate in their host as a population of closely related but non-identical RNA variants referred to as quasispecies. Recently, we have described threede novoarising PSTVd variants in the parasitic plantPhelipanche ramosaafter mechanical inoculation with the PSTVd KF440-2 isolate. TheseP. ramosaderived mutants were designated as G241-C, C208-U and C227-U PSTVd variants. Each of these variants carries a single-nucleotide substitution compared to the PSTVd KF440-2 sequence from which they are considered to have evolved. Here we complement our previous studies on these mutants by exploring their potential to infect the floral organs of tomato plants. We found that the PSTVd G241-C and C208-U variants were able to replicate in systemic leaves and floral organs of tomato plants, while the PSTVd C227-U variant did not develop systemic infection. Furthermore, we analysed the progeny of these PSTVd variants in sepals and petals of tomato plants for retention of the specific mutations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, University of Plovdiv , Plovdiv , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Tihomir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vachev
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, University of Plovdiv , Plovdiv , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Desislava
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ivanova
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, University of Plovdiv , Plovdiv , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Galina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yahubyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, University of Plovdiv , Plovdiv , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naimov
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, University of Plovdiv , Plovdiv , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Minkov
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, University of Plovdiv , Plovdiv , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Mariyana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gozmanova
keywords: P. ramosa; PSTVd; PSTVd sequence variants; flower organs