Orthotospovirus iridimaculaflavi (iris yellow spot virus): An emerging threat to onion cultivation and its transmission by Thrips tabaci in India

The yellow spot disease caused by the virus species Orthotospovirus iridimaculaflavi (Iris yellow spot virus-IYSV), belonging to the genus Orthotospovirus, the family Tospoviridae, order Bunyavirales and transmitted by Thrips tabaci Lindeman. At present, emerging as a major threat in onion (Allium cepa) in Tamil Nadu, India. The yellow spot disease incidence was found to be 53-73 % in six districts out of eight major onion-growing districts surveyed in Tamil Nadu during 2021-2023. Among the onion cultivars surveyed, the cultivar CO 5 was the most susceptible to IYSV. The population of thrips was nearly 5-9/plant during vegetative and flowering stages. The thrips infestation was 34-60 %. The tospovirus involved was confirmed as IYSV through DAS-ELISA, followed by molecular confirmation through RT-PCR using the nucleocapsid (N) gene. The predominant thrips species present in onion crops throughout the growing seasons was confirmed as Thrips tabaci based on the nucleotide sequence of the MtCOI gene. The mechanical inoculation of IYSV in different hosts viz., Vigna unguiculata, Gomphrena globosa, Chenopodium amaranticolor, Chenopodium quinoa and Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in chlorotic and necrotic lesion symptoms. The electron microscopic studies with partially purified sap from onion lesions revealed the presence of spherical to pleomorphic particles measuring 100-230 nm diameter. The transmission of IYSV was successful with viruliferous adult Thrips tabaci in cowpea (Cv. CO7), which matured from 1st instar larva fed on infected cowpea leaves (24 h AAP). Small brown necrotic symptoms were produced on inoculated plants after an interval of four weeks. The settling preference of non-viruliferous and viruliferous T. tabaci towards healthy and infected onion leaves resulted in the increased preference of non-viruliferous thrips towards infected (onion-61.33 % and viruliferous thrips towards healthy onion leaves (75.33 %). The study isolates shared 99-100 % identity at a nucleotide and amino acid level with Indian isolates of IYSV in the N gene. The multiple alignment of the amino acid sequence of the N gene of IYSV isolates collected from different locations and IYSV isolates from the database revealed amino acid substitution in the isolate ITPR4. All the IYSV isolates from India exhibited characteristic amino acid substitution of serine at the 6th position in the place of threonine in the isolates from Australia, Japan and USA. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the monophyletic origin of the IYSV isolates in India.