Molecular detection of Citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), Citrus viroid-III (CVd-III), and Citrus viroid-IV (CVd-IV) in Palestine

Abstract

Abstract Citrus is hosting several phytopathogens that impacted production where viroids are among that. Missing data about viroids status in citrus in Palestine was not reported. This study aimed to detect any of Citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), Citrus viroid-III (CVd-III), and Citrus viroid-IV (CVd-IV) in the germplasm collection of Palestinian National Agricultural Research Center (NARC). Field inspections revealed symptoms such as leaf epinasty; vein discoloration, and bark cracking on varies citrus varieties. Molecularly, high prevalence of CVd-IV CEVd and CVd-III (47%, 31%, and 22%; respectively) were recorded by RT-PCR. Two variants of CVd-III were reported, with 91.3% nucleic acid sequence homology. The sequence of each viroid were deposited in GenBank as (OP925746 for CEVd, OP902248 and OP902249 for CVd-III-PS-1 and -PS-2 isolates, and OP902247 for CVd-IV). This was the first to report three of citrus viroids in Palestine, appealing to apply phytosanitary measurements to disseminate healthy propagating materials free from viroids.