Detection and characterization of citrus tatter leaf virus (CTLV) and citrus yellow vein clearing virus (CYVCV) in citrus trees from Cyprus

Citrus tatter leaf virus (CTLV) was firstly reported of in California. After that, it reported in Australia, Korea, Nigeria, Japan, South Africa, and China. The transmission of this virus from plant to plant is very easy with mechanically. Citrus yellow vein clearing virus (CYVCV) was reported on lemon trees in India, Pakistan, Turkey and China. Foliar distortion, necrotic spots, chlorosis and wrinkling symptoms were observed in young lemon orchards in newly established orchards with trees imported from abroad. Therefore, surveys of citrus trees in Cyprus were performed for CTLV and CYVCV from 2013 to 2016. A total of 64 leaf samples from symptomatic citrus trees (41 lemon, 10 orange, 10 mandarin and three grapefruit samples) were collected for total nucleic acid extraction and RT-PCR with CTLV primers to amplify a 309 bp and a 614 bp fragment, respectively, of the 5′ end (100%) and high nucleotide sequence identity (99%) with isolates BJNM-2 and QC4 from China and isolate BDZ-1 from Australia. To our knowledge, this is the first report of CTLV from Europe.