DETECTION OF BEGOMOVIRUS IN PLANTS OF Jatropha curcas L., IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

Abstract

The Mexican pine (Jatropha curcas L.) is the most promising non-edible plant for the biofuel industry in the world. The state of Chiapas, south of Mexico, inhibits high diversity of genotypes, with differences in agronomic traits such as greater number of floral events, high production and oil quality of its seeds. Despite such agronomic traits, it is susceptible to Jatropha mosaic disease (JMD), caused by begomovirus (Geminiviridae). In this study, we reported the presence of begomovirus related to Jatropha mosaic disease by visual detection in five populations of Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. The observed symptoms were mosaics, curls and leaf malformations. The presence of begomoviruses associated with JMD was confirmed by PCR obtaining 88% of positive samples to the infection and only 12% were healthy plants. In addition, the molecular detection allowed to observe that 16 asymptomatic samples were positive to the infection. The dependence between the symptoms of JMD and the presence of begomovirus was significant. This work represents the first report of begomovirus infecting Jatropha curcas L. plants in southern Mexico.