Using Raman spectroscopy for early detection of resistance-breaking strains of tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus in tomatoes

Abstract

Tomato spotted wilt (TSW) disease caused by tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus (TSWV, Orthotospovirus tomatomaculae) poses a significant threat to specialty and staple crops worldwide by causing over a billion dollars in crop losses annually. Current strategies for TSWV diagnosis heavily rely on nucleic acid or protein-based techniques which require significant technical expertise, and are invasive, time-consuming, and expensive, thereby catalyzing the search for better alternatives. In this study, we explored the potential of Raman spectroscopy (RS) in early detection of TSW in a non-invasive and non-destructive manner. Specifically, we investigated whether RS could be used to detect strain specific TSW symptoms associated with four TSWV strains infecting three differentially resistant tomato cultivars. In the acquired spectra, we observed notable reductions in the intensity of vibrational peaks associated with carotenoids. Using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we confirmed that TSWV caused a substantial decrease in the concentration of lutein that was detected by RS. Finally, we demonstrated that Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) could be used to differentiate strain-specific TSW symptoms across all tested cultivars. These results demonstrate that RS can be a promising solution for early diagnosis of TSW, enabling timely disease intervention and thereby mitigating crop losses inflicted by TSWV.