Crop Protection Division, Agricultural Research Council-Tropical and Subtropical Crops (ARC-TSC), Mbombela, South Africa.
Discipline of Plant Pathology, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Arch Virol. 2022 Jun;167(6):1433-1441. doi: 10.1007/s00705-022-05451-5. Epub 2022 Apr 24.
Banana bunchy top disease is the most devastating viral disease of bananas worldwide and is caused by banana bunchy top virus (BBTV). The disease is spread by the banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa Coquerel (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and through infected propagation material. In 2016, the virus was detected for the first time in an isolated area in the South Coast region of KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN), South Africa. The aim of this study was to conduct surveys across all banana-producing regions in South Africa, viz. KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo provinces. Over 1700 plant and aphid samples were collected from commercial farms and rural households in the three provinces, and more-intense sampling was done in the affected KZN region. A BBTV-specific PCR targeting DNA-R (encoding the master replication initiation protein, M-Rep) was used to detect virus-infected samples, and amplicons of the expected size were sequenced. Comparative phylogenetic analysis showed that the South African BBTV isolates clustered within the Pacific Indian Oceans genomic group, which includes isolates from India and other regions in Africa, with a bootstrap value of 94%. To date, the virus has been identified only in the South Coast region of KwaZulu-Natal Province. Intense management strategies, including scouting, removal of infected plants, and control of aphids, have been implemented in areas where positive samples were identified to minimize the spread of the virus.
香蕉束顶病是全球范围内最具破坏性的香蕉病毒病，由香蕉束顶病毒（BBTV）引起。该病毒通过香蕉蚜（Pentalonia nigronervosa Coquerel）（半翅目：蚜科）传播，并通过受感染的繁殖材料传播。2016 年，该病毒首次在南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省（KwaZulu-Natal）南海岸地区的一个隔离区被检测到。本研究的目的是在南非所有香蕉种植区进行调查，即夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省、姆普马兰加省和林波波省。在这三个省份的商业农场和农村家庭中采集了超过 1700 个植物和蚜虫样本，并在受影响的夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省进行了更密集的采样。使用针对 DNA-R（编码主复制起始蛋白 M-Rep）的 BBTV 特异性 PCR 检测病毒感染样本，并对预期大小的扩增子进行测序。比较系统发育分析表明，南非的 BBTV 分离株聚集在太平洋印度洋基因组群内，该基因组群包括来自印度和非洲其他地区的分离株，支持率为 94%。迄今为止，该病毒仅在夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省的南海岸地区被发现。在发现阳性样本的地区，已经实施了密集的管理策略，包括巡查、清除感染植物和控制蚜虫，以最大程度地减少病毒的传播。
