Identification, prevalence and genetic diversity study of potato viruses in Northeastern states of India

Potato affecting viruses is an important biotic factor that hampers both the quality and yield of potato production worldwide. The occurrence of potato viruses has been historically recorded in India. Viruses such as potato virus X (PVX), potato virus Y (PVY), potato virus A (PVA), potato virus M (PVM), potato virus S (PVS), potato leafroll virus (PLRV) have been recorded in all potato growing zones. To investigate the presence and distribution of potato virus diseases in North‐East India, a survey of seven major potato growing regions was conducted during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. The presence of potato viruses was confirmed by double antibody sandwich ELISA (DAS‐ELISA) with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) performed on selected samples. The sequencing followed by annotation of PCR amplicons obtained from RT‐PCR showed 95–100% nucleotide sequence identities with respective virus accessions on NCBI GenBank. The multiple sequence analysis and phylogenetic studies provided an overview of the genetic diversity pattern among different potato virus isolates. This study reveals a broad picture of the potato virus infections occurring in Northeastern states of India, which may be useful to develop effective control strategies against the potato viruses. A survey of seven major potato growing regions was conducted during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. The presence of potato viruses was confirmed by double antibody sandwich ELISA (DAS‐ELISA) with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) performed on selected samples. The sequencing followed by annotation of PCR amplicons obtained from RT‐PCR showed 95–100% nucleotide sequence identities with respective virus accessions on NCBI GenBank. The multiple sequence analysis and phylogenetic studies provided an overview of the genetic diversity pattern among different potato virus isolates.