Screening of Passiflora species for reaction to Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus reveals an immune wild species

Abstract

Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV) is a potyvirus that causes the most serious virus disease of passion fruit crops in Brazil. It is transmitted by several species of aphids in a non-persistent, non-circulative manner. The reaction of 16 species of Passiflora to infection by mechanical inoculation with four Brazilian isolates of CABMV was evaluated under greenhouse conditions. Only P. suberosa, a wild species, was resistant to infection by all virus isolates, in two independent assays. P. suberosa grafted onto infected P. edulis f. flavicarpa did not develop symptoms; neither was the virus detected by RT-PCR in the upper leaves, suggesting that this species is immune to CABMV.