High-Throughput Sequencing Detects a Viral Complex in Agave Tequilana Plants.

Agave tequilana Weber var. Azul is one of the most economically important species in Mexico because of its use in the production of tequila. Recently, young agave plants in commercial plantations in the state of Jalisco and agave ornamental plants have been observed to have symptoms of yellow streaks and mottle like those caused by viruses. The diversity of symptoms observed in agave and the negative results of the different diagnostic tests indicated the possible presence of different unknown viruses, and so we conducted high-throughput sequencing (HTS) analyses of viral RNA. The bioinformatics analyses showed the complete genomes of isolates of Vitivirus genus, Potexvirus genus, Tepovirus genus, and the partial genome of a Badnavirus genus in mixed infections in agave samples from commercial plots and in ornamental plants. The presence of each virus was confirmed by sequencing and cloning of the RT-PCR products of the capsid protein (CP), using specific oligonucleotides designed from the sequences obtained by HTS. This is the first time to our knowledge that mixed infections of potential novel Vitivirus, Potexvirus, Tepovirus, and Badnavirus genomes have been identified in A. tequilana plants.