Molecular characterization of <i>Soybean mosaic virus</i> (SMV) infecting Purple passion fruit (<i>Passiflora edulis</i> f. <i>edulis</i>) in Antioquia, Colombia

Abstract

Purple passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f. edulis) also known as gulupa, is a vine plant closely related to yellow passion fruit, that produces a less acidic fruit with sweeter taste. In recent years, gulupa has become one of the most important fruits exported from Colombia. In spite of increasing demand, the cultivated area of this crop has been in rapid decline due to emerging viral diseases. In this work, infection of gulupa by Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is first reported in the province of Antioquia (Colombia) and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) data suggest seed transmission in this host. The complete genome sequence of isolate SMV_gulupa was obtained by High throughput sequencing of infected plants and phylogenetic analyses confirmed that SMV infecting passifloras have a close evolutionary relationship and probably originated from a host shift of SMV infecting soybean. The SMV_gulupa genome is the only complete sequence available for this virus in South America.