ABSTRACT Lima bean plants showing mosaic and leaf distortion symptoms, similar to those induced by viruses, were observed in several production areas in the states of Ceará and Piauí, Northeastern Brazil. The aim of this study was to identify RNA genome viruses that infect lima bean. Field research was conducted from 2017 to 2018. Fifty-five symptomatic samples were randomly collected from seven properties in five municipalities and tested by RT-PCR and DNA sequencing with specific or universal primers for two viruses and two virus groups. Four virus species were identified: cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), cowpea mild mottle virus (CPMMV), cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV) and cowpea severe mosaic virus (CPSMV), which had infection levels of 21.8, 52.7, 47.2, and 1.8%, respectively, as well as double and triple infections. The CMV isolates belonged to subgroup IA. The CPMMV isolates had high nucleotide identity with CPMMV isolates from Brazil, USA and Mexico. The CABMV isolates showed moderate nucleotide identity with Brazilian isolates. Only one sample was infected with CPSMV. This is the first record of CPMMV and CPSMV naturally infecting lima bean. Approaches to virus control are discussed.

O aumento na ocorrência de begomoviroses (geminiviroses) em tomateiros, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., em várias regiões brasileiras, vem causando grandes prejuízos para o agronegócio de tomate, devido à ocorrência do inseto vetor, Bemisia argentifolii (Bemisia tabaci biotipo B). A diagnose é realizada em geral por "polymerase chain reaction" (PCR) ou por hibridização com sondas radioativas. A PCR é um método de alta sensibilidade, porém apresenta a desvantagem da possibilidade de obtenção de resultados falso-positivos, devido a contaminações, ou falso-negativos causados por inibidores contaminantes da reação, ou pela extrema especificidade dos iniciadores. A hibridização de ácidos nucléicos com sondas radioativas tem o seu uso limitado devido à necessidade de infra-estrutura especial, treinamento de pessoal, riscos para a saúde do manipulador e demanda constante de radioquímicos. O presente trabalho tem por finalidade demonstrar a viabilidade do uso do método de hibridização com sondas não-radioativas para a detecção de um begomovírus de tomateiro do Brasil. A sensibilidade do teste foi alta, obtendo-se detecção de até 0,1fg do DNA homólogo e em extrato bruto foliar diluído até 100 vezes.

Major outbreaks of tomato begomoviruses (geminiviruses) in several tomato Lycopersicon esculentum Mill growing in many parts of Brazil have been imposing significant losses upon the tomato agribusiness, due to the introduction of the Bemisia argentifolii (Bemisia tabaci biotype B). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and hybridization are generally used for diagnosis. The PCR is a detection method with high sensitivity, however it has the disadvantage of producing false-positives, due to contamination, or false-negatives caused by inhibitors or because of the high primer specifity. The use of nucleic acid hybridization with radio-labelled probes is restricted due to the requirement of special infrastructure and handling experience, the risk for the user’s health and a regular radiochemical element supply. This study is aimed at demonstrating the usefulness of the hybridization method with non-radioactive probes for detection of a tomato begomoviruses in Brazil. The sensitivity of this method was high enabling the detection of 0.1fg of homologous DNA and in crude sap extract diluted up to 100-fold.

Brazilian naturalized goat breeds are adapted to the semiarid conditions prevalent in the Northeast region of the country (which has the largest Brazilian goat heard) and represent an as yet uninvestigated source of genetic diversity. Currently, imported goat breeds are crossed with Brazilian naturalized goat breeds, endangering the genetic potential of the naturalized breeds. We used 11 microsatellite markers to determine the genetic diversity among imported (non-naturalized) dairy Alpine and Saanen goats and naturalized Brazilian Moxotó goats. We genotyped 292 goats from three herds (one private, one from the University of Minas Gerais and the Moxotó conservation herd from Embrapa Caprinos) and found that the general heterozygosity was 0.6952 for Alpine, 0.7043 for Saanen and 0.4984 for Moxotó goats. The number of alleles ranged from 5 (INRA005) to 11 (BM3205), with an average of 7 alleles per locus in the imported breeds and 3.5 alleles per locus in the Moxotó breed. Mean differentiation between populations was higher for herds (F ST S = 0.0768) than for breeds (F ST P = 0.0263), indicating similarity between the imported breeds and the existence of crosses between them. Nei's genetic distance was highest between the Moxotó breed and the imported breeds. These indicate that further studies using these molecular markers would be fruitful.