Molecular and biological studies on a geminivirus isolate infecting sugar beet in Egypt / Alshaimaa Mahmoud Mohammed ; Supervised Bahyia Yehia Riad , Lamiaa Fouad Elgaied

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Biochemistry

Sugar beet is one of the main sources for sugar manufacturing in Egypt. However its cultivation and growing can be severely hampered due to viral infection. In this study beet plants with VLS, were collected from several locations and tested and were confirmed for the presence of geminivirus with indirect DAS ELISA and PCR to confirm virus presence. Beet plants inoculated with viruliferous whiteflies were tested using WTG specific primers giving positive results and giving negative results upon using TYLCV-Cp specific primers. Host range were carried out and results were confirmed by PCR using WTG specific primers and symptoms were recorded. Experiments also showed that the virus could be transmitted mechanically and by grafting, symptoms were recorded. Ultrathin section of the infected beat plants were examined under the Electron microscope (EM) showed the presence of virus like particles and Cyto-pathologic virus effects. Furthermore, the typical geminivirus rolling circle amplicons (RCA) were detected in the infected host plants and was confirmed with restriction enzyme digestion. Moreover, PCR products resulting from WTG specific primers were sequenced. Results indicated that this isolate is very near at the molecular level to TYLCV isolates suggested that it is a new isolate of TYLCV

Issued also as CD