High-Throughput Sequencing Analysis Reveals Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Infecting Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis) Plants in China

Abstract

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) production in China has been significantly affected by plant viruses, with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) being a significant concern. TYLCV mainly infects hosts from the Solanaceae, Cucurbitaceae and Poaceae families. In this study, we aimed to detect this virus in the Passifloraceae family, along with the East Asian passiflora virus (EAPV) and Telosma mosaic virus (TeMV), which have been reported in passion fruit. We analysed (August–November 2024) passion fruit plants with symptoms of severe chlorosis, interveinal yellowing and chlorotic blotches of older leaves in Rongjiang, Guizhou Province. Small RNA sequencing indicated the presence of the following five viruses in the tested leaf samples of passion fruit: EAPV, TeMV, TYLCV and Passion fruit severe mottle virus. TYLCV was the third major contributor after EAPV and TeMV. A full-length genome, consisting of 2781 bp, was constructed for isolate TYLCV-GZ. Polymerase chain reaction assay of randomly selected 48 leaf samples confirmed the presence of the newly characterised TYLCV-GZ isolate. A high nucleotide and amino acid similarity percentage (> 97%) was recorded using corresponding sequences in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a close relationship between TYLCV-GZ and tomato-infecting isolates from China and Spain. These findings can help prevent the spread of this virus to other areas and improve passion fruit cultivation.