Detection and molecular diversity of grapevine leaf roll- associated virus 2 and 4 in Palestine

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera), a member of the Vitaceae family, is the world's oldest crop, while it is Palestine's second most important crop after olives. Grapevine can be infected by up to 60 viruses because to the widespread use of vegetative propagation. The Grapevine leafroll virus, which belongs to the genus Ampelovirus and is mostly transferred to the vine by mealybugs, is the most serious. Due to a lack of current data on grapevine prevalence, the goal of this study was to investigate the hygienic state of grapevines in Palestine. To identify GLRV, field surveys were done in the principal vineyards of Palestine's West Bank. Samples were collected in the Hebron area from Al-Reheia (Al-Fawwar region), Farsh Al-Hawa north of Hebron, Namra in the city center, and Baqa'a in the east. The infection ratio was confirmed to be 16.90 %when the collected samples were examined with ELISA. Positives for GLRV-4 were coded. By employing RT-PCR, none of the examined samples (12) was able to amplify any of GLRV-4 using virus-specific primers, however, RT-PCR was able to identify four positive samples from various parts of Hebron using degenerated Ampelovirus primers. These findings show that Ampelovirus was discovered in Palestine grapevine areas, but GLRV-2 was not. The findings of this study can be used as a documented report on the health of grapevines. The discovery of Ampelovirus would pave the way for more investigation into their identification. Key Words: Grapevine, GLRV, ELISA, Survey, RT- PCR