Report on distribution of Tea necrotic ring blotch virus at important Tea plantation regions in Northern Iran

Tea plant [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] is one of the most significant commercial crops in Iran. Tea is considered to be one of the plants that is commonly propagated by two methods of planting seeds and vegetative cuttings. This feature has caused the viral disease to spread faster in this plant/region. The genus Blunervirus (Family: Kitaviridae) is a harmful species on tea plant. No study had been done on the viruses of this plant in Iran. In this project, leaf, branch, seed and root samples of different cultivars (Symptomatic or asymptomatic) suspected to viral diseases were collected from the gardens of Geelan and Mazandaran provinces. RT-PCR test was performedusing specific primers for detection of Tea plant necrotic ring blotch virus, led to the multiplication of the expected fragments in some of the examined samples. The sequencing of amplified fragments, proved the occurrence of Tea plant necrotic ring blotch virus-TPNRBV in some investigated samples from Geelan and Mazandaran gardens. Dendrogram generated using sequences of TPNRBV, revealed close relationship among Iranian isolates and isolates from other countries (China & Japan) that reported earlier.

Keywords:

Tea plant , Survey , Blunervirus , necrotic ring blotch