Genomic analysis of the brassica pathogen turnip mosaic potyvirus reveals its spread along the former trade routes of the Silk Road.

ABSTRACT: Plant pathogens have agricultural impacts on a global scale and resolving the timing and route of their spread can aid crop protection and inform control strategies. However, the evolutionary and phylogeographic history of plant pathogens in Eurasia remains largely unknown because of the difficulties in sampling across such a large landmass. Here, we show that turnip mosaic potyvirus (TuMV), a significant pathogen of brassica crops, spread from west to east across Eurasia from about the 17th century CE. We used a Bayesian phylogenetic approach to analyze 579 whole genome sequences and up to 713 partial sequences of TuMV, including 122 previously unknown genome sequences from isolates that we collected over the past five decades. Our phylogeographic and molecular clock analyses showed that

SUBMITTER: Kawakubo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8000540 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature