Characterization of Pepper yellow vein mali virus in Capsicum sp. in Burkina Faso

The aetiology of a disease characterized by severe leaf curling and leaf distortion symptoms in peppers was studied in Burkina Faso. Surveys were conducted in fields planted with sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) and hot pepper (Capsicum frutescens) to collect leaf samples and assess disease incidence. Collected samples were analyzed using biological tests (mechanical inoculation and whitefly transmission), triple-antibody-sandwich- enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay (TAS-ELISA), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis. Mechanical inoculation tests were negative while transmission by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci led to infection rates of more than 80%. TAS-ELISA and PCR tests indicated that symptoms observed were associated with begomovirus infections. Involved virus isolates showed pairwise nucleotide identity of more than 99% with Pepper yellow vein mali virus (PepYVMV) and formed with this virus a distinct clade in phylogenetic analyses. Altogether, these results indicated that PepYVMV was the causal agent of leaf curling symptoms in peppers.