Molecular identification of pineapple mealybug wilt-associated virus-1 in flesh of pineapple fruits

Abstract

Pineapple mealybug wilt-associated virus 1 (PMWaV-1) as one of the causal agents of Mealybug Wilt of Pineapple (MWP) has been identified in different regions of Indonesia, and in other countries. Those surveys mostly collected pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) leaf samples for molecular detection of the phloem limited PMWaV-1. Therefore, presence of the virus in flesh of fruit samples, which contain a lot of phloem, from Pemalang Regency was observed in this study to improve our knowledge on the distribution of the virus in plant tissues. As a results, RT-PCR products with single targeted band confirmed that the flesh of the two fruits also contained PMWaV-1. Subsequent BLAST and phylogenetic analyses on the sequences of two iso-lates obtained here suggested that they are identical to the isolates recovered previously from leaves of their respective plants. This report added additional information on the distribution of PMWaV-1 in pineapple plant tissues.