An efficient in vitro-inoculation method for Tomato yellow leaf curl virus | Al Abdallat et al. Virology Journal 2010 7 84 http content 7 1 84 VIROLOGY JOURNAL RESEARCH Open Access An efficient in vitro-inoculation method for Tomato yellow leaf curl virus Ayed M Al Abdallat 1 2 Hmoud S Al Debei1 Heba Asmar1 Samar Misbeh1 Ayat Quraan1 and Anders Kvarnheden3 Abstract Background Tomato yellow leaf curl virus TYLCV is a member of the family Geminiviridae genus Begomovirus. To test the infectivity of TYLCV in tomato plants an improved protocol for inoculation of in vitro-cultured tomato plants was developed. Results A TYLCV isolate was cloned sequenced and used to construct a infectious clone. Three weeks old microshoots of TYLCV-susceptible tomato plants were inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring the infectious clone for the TYLCV isolate. After two weeks the TYLCV symptoms started to appear on the in vitro-inoculated plants and the symptoms became more severe and pronounced eight weeks post-inoculation. The method was used efficiently to uncover the resistance mechanism against TYLCV in Solanum habrochaites accession LA 1777 a wild tomato known for its high resistance to whitefly and TYLCV. Conclusions The reported in vitro-inoculation method can be used to screen tomato genotypes for their responses to TYLCV under controlled conditions and it will be a useful tool for better understanding of the TYLCV biology in tomato plants. Background Since it was first reported in the Jordan valley 1 the tomato yellow leaf curl disease TYLCD caused by the Tomato yellow leaf curl virus TYLCV and related viruses has become a serious problem that affects tomato Solanum lycopersicum worldwide. TYLCV is a member of the family Geminiviridae genus Begomovirus and it is transmitted to tomato by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a persistent and circulative manner 2 . The management of the disease in tomato production areas is difficult and expensive and the control measurements are focused mainly on the whitefly control and .
