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Correspondence to Author:  Zupeng, R. Larrea-Sarmiento, Glejandro Olmedo-Velarde, Alexandra Kong, Wayne Borth, Jon Y Suzuki, Marisa M Wall, Michael J Melzer, Rahn Hu. 

Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.

Abstract:  In 2020, hibiscus leaves (Hibiscus spp., family Malvaceae) with mosaic, ringspot, and chlorotic spot symptoms were gathered from Oahu, Hawaii. Ribosomal RNA-depleted composite RNA samples taken from symptomatic leaves were subjected to high-throughput sequencing analysis. Following quality checking, trimming, and de novo assembly, over 77 million paired-end reads and 161,970 contigs were produced. Using BLASTX/BLASTN searches for contig annotation, two sequences were found: contig 1 resembled the RNA virus, hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus (genus Betacarmovirus), and contig 2 resembled the DNA virus, peanut chlorotic streak virus (genus Soymovirus). With the suggested names of hibiscus betacarmovirus and hibiscus soymovirus, respectively, these viruses are thought to represent new species in the genera betacarmovirus and soymovirus, according to additional bioinformatic analyses of the full viral genome sequences.The presence of these viruses was further verified by Sanger sequencing in conjunction with RT-PCR employing particular primers created based on the recovered contigs. To ascertain the prevalence and dispersion of these viruses, 54 more hibiscus leaf samples from various Oahu locales were analyzed.

Citation:

Rahn Hu. Naturally Infecting Hibiscus Spp. In Hawaii: The First Identification And Genome Characterization Of A New Dna Virus, Hibiscus Soymovirus, And A New Rna Virus, Hibiscus Betacarmovirus. Journal of Advances in Plant Sciences 2025.