Incidence and distributions of Grapevine fanleaf virus in North-East of Iran

Abstract

The incidence and distribution of Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV) were investigated in two viticultural regions of northeastern Iran (Bojnurd and Kashmar) during the 2005 growing season. A total of 3,454 leaf samples were randomly collected from 25 vineyards and virus incidence was subsequently assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serological results were confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using the specific primers designed to amplify a DNA fragment of approximately 1,500 bp corresponding to the GFLV-coat protein gene. The nucleotide sequence of the amplified DNAs of five selected GFLV Iranian isolates showed the highest identities to the same regions of other published GFLV sequences from GenBank. Based on ELISA, twenty two out of 25 surveyed vineyards had virus infection rates ranging from 4.2 to 15.8%. GFLV incidence in Bojnurd and Kashmar was 10.9 and 6.7%, respectively, with an overall incidence of 8.8%. In the fields surveyed a widespread occurrence of Xiphinema index was also detected. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.