Investigation of strains of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) in Cukurova region

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a viral agent causes significant economic loss worldwide on tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) cultivation in greenhouses. The symptoms caused by TYLCV at infected tomato plants are stunting, small chlorotic leaves with upward curling. Many Different strains of TYLCV have been reported from various parts of the World and it's impossible to discriminate the strains by symptoms. This study was carried out for identification and characterization of TYLCV strains in Adana and Mersin provinces (Cukurova region) of Turkey in 2017. With this aim, leaf samples were collected from infected tomato plants and presence of TYLCV was confirmed by PCR. Two different strains of TYLCV (TYLCV-IL, TYLCV-Mld) were identified by using strain specific primers (TYLCV-IL, TYLCV-Mld) in Cukurova region. Similar symptomatic plants were tested with V1 primers amplifying the coat protein (CP) coding gene – 777 bp which had no PCR products for both TYLCV-IL and TYLCV-Mld specific primers. Phylogenetic analysis of TYLCV-IL and TYLCV-Mld proved that these isolates were related to other isolates from several countries. Although, phylogenetic analysis of CP (777 bp) of two isolates from Mersin province had similarities with most of the TYLCV strains and isolates from various countries all around the World. These results showed that TYLCV had many viral variants being a threat for tomato cultivation in greenhouses in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Key Words: TYLCV, PCR, ELISA, Characterization, Tomato