Extensive testing of LAMP (Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification) has shown a high sensitivity and specificity in detecting sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV), and begomoviruses comparable to using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-QPCR). On-site detection of SPFMV, SPCSV, and begomoviruses was simple to perform …
Read More »Poster: Ensuring safe international exchange of sweetpotato accessions and germplasm management
This poster outlines the challenges posed by viruses and the mitigation strategies being implemented to ensure sustainable production of virus free sweetpotato for safe movement of germplasm.
Read More »Determining the Pan-African sweetpotato virome: understanding virus diversity, distribution and evolution and their impacts on sweetpotato production in Africa
Food security remains a huge challenge for the millions of Africans dependent on agriculture for their subsistence. A low-level agricultural productivity and a high percentage of poor and undernourished people are common in Africa, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. (Family Convolvulaceae), is among the most …
Read More »SASHA Brief 2014: Improving Sweetpotato Virus Diagnostics
Genomes of virus species and strains infecting sweetpotato in East, Southern and West Africa have been determined by next generation sequencing (NGS). This brief presents this new diagnostic tool developed to detect all sweetpotato viruses simultaneously and the progressive improvements.
Read More »First report of Sweet potato leaf curl virus infecting sweet potato in Argentina
This is a report of the complete nucleotide sequence of a begomovirus infecting sweet potato in the Northeastern region of Argentina. Sequence comparisons indicated that the isolate under study has the highest nucleotide sequence identity (93.6 %) with Sweet potato leaf curl virus Puerto Rico. According to the current taxonomic criteria for begomovirus …
Read More »Sweetpotato Viruses Cause Disease in Sweet Potato and Related Ipomoea spp.: Fulfilling Koch’s Postulates for a Divergent Group in the Genus Begomovirus
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and related Ipomoea species are frequently infected by monopartite begomoviruses (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae), known as sweepoviruses. Unlike other geminiviruses, the genomes of sweepoviruses have been recalcitrant to rendering infectious clones to date. Thus, Koch’s postulates have not been fullfilled for any of the viruses in …
Read More »Distinct cavemoviruses interact synergistically with sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (genus Crinivirus) in cultivated sweet potato
Two serologically unrelated sweetpotato viruses causing symptoms of vein clearing in the indicator plant Ipomoea setosa were isolated and their genomes have been sequenced. They are associated with symptomless infections in sweet potato but distinct vein-clearing symptoms and higher virus titres were observed when these viruses co-infected with sweetpotato chlorotic …
Read More »APPLICATIONS OF MOLECULAR MARKERS IN SWEETPOTATO
Application of molecular markers within sweet potato germplasm has been widely recognized. Wolfgang presentation outlines their applications in germplasm discrimination, heterotic genepools build-up, marker assisted selection for virus and nematode resistant varieties and sweet potato mapping based on dry matter, starch, sucrose and β-carotene characteristics.
Read More »Viruses and virus-like diseases of sweetpotato
This article by Moyer and Salazar, outlines the viruses and virus like diseases affecting sweetpotato crop. Due to renewed interest of the international agricultural community in sweetpotato, there is need for development of improved varieties. These varieties are needed for germplasm maintenance, commercial production and research purposes. From field observations …
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