Evolutionary dynamics of potato virus Y and its effect on host range
potyvirus, PVY, ONT, host adaptation, virus evolution.
: The potyvirus potato virus Y (PVY) is one of the major phytopathogenic viruses, particularly in the potato crop. Recently, PVY-associated diseases have been frequently reported in tomato and pepper plants. In addition to the lack of basic data on the disease in these crops, little is known about the evolutionary dynamics of the viruses in adaptation to these plants in the agricultural area. This project proposes the genomic analysis of PVY isolates from potato, pepper and tomato. These isolates will be used to identify tomato and pepper cultivars with resistance to PVY infection, as well as to determine the potential inoculum sources in the field. Next, a study based on sequential inoculations of 3 isolates (one from each crop) will be performed to determine the adaptive capacity of these isolates in different hosts in distinct combinations (homologous, non-homologous, mixed and alternated). There will be at least 9 sequential generations with evaluations of the rate and speed of infection, symptoms and genomic variation, in comparison with each other and with the initial isolate; in genomic and genetic diversity analyses of evolving viral populations. Preliminary conclusions will be confirmed by further trials. The first part of the biological trial and the determination of the genomic sequences will be carried out in Brazil. During a six-month sandwich doctorate program at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio, CSIC) under the supervision of Dr. Santiago Elena, bioinformatics analyzes will be performed using I2SysBio's advanced computational facilities and new biological trials will be conducted. These analyzes will also include sequences available in public databases, containing >700 PVY whole genome sequences. This collaborative project will be important to provide data that will be used for the formulation of strategies for the cultural management of PVY in the 3 crops, and to promote the partnership between Embrapa, UnB and I2SysBio of Spain. The implementation of the sandwich Ph.D. program depends on the approval of the scholarship application to the CAPES-PRINT program and, if approved, it will be initiated on March of 2023.