First report of Schlumbergera virus X infecting dragon fruit (Selenicereus spp.) in Portugal

Tomás Marques, Natália; Trindade, Ana Rita; Duarte, Amilcar

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/26047

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Authors

Tomás Marques, Natália

Trindade, Ana Rita

Duarte, Amilcar

Abstract(s)

Dragon fruit (Selenicereus spp.) is a fruit crop with a high commercial value. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in this crop in the southern region of Por tugal, with the introduction of new cultivars (Trindade et al. 2023). In June 2022, a survey was conducted to monitor the sanitary status of a plantation in Moncarapacho. Seven two- to three-year-old plants of Selenicereus stenopterus (F.A.C. Weber) D.R.Hunt × S. undatus (Haw.) D.R.Hunt cv. ‘Connie Mayer’ were sampled. The plants exhibited a range of symptoms on their cladodes, including systemic mottling, small irregular chlorotic spots which may also appear ring-shaped, and chlorotic patches. Total RNA was extracted from the symptomatic cladodes and one asymp tomatic plant. The RNA was subjected to reverse tran scription (RT)-PCR using Ribolock (Thermo Scientific, USA), M-MuLV Reverse Transcriptase (Roche, Sigma Aldrich), and Dream Taq DNA polymerase (Thermo Sci entific, USA). The degenerate primer pair Potex5Fw and Potex2RC (van der Vlugt and Berendsen 2002) were used for the amplification of a 584-bp sequence.