Molecular characterization of the coat protein gene revealed considerable diversity of viral species complex in Garlic (Allium sativum L.)

Garlic is one of the most crucial Allium vegetables used as seasoning of foods. It has a lot of benefits from the medicinal and nutritional point of view; however, its production is highly constrained by both biotic and abiotic challenges. Among these, viral infections are the most prevalent factors affecting crop productivity around the globe. This experiment was conducted on eleven selected garlic accessions and three improved varieties collected from different garlic growing agro-climatic regions of Ethiopia. This study aimed to identify and characterize the isolated garlic virus using the coat protein (CP) gene and further determine their phylogenetic relatedness. RNA was extracted from fresh young leaves, thirteen days old seedlings, which showed yellowing, mosaic, and stunting symptoms. Pairwise molecular diversity for CP nucleotide and amino acid sequences were calculated using MEGA5. Maximum Likelihood tree of CP nucleotide sequence data of Allexivirus and Potyvirus were conducted using PhyML, while a neighbor-joining tree was constructed for the amino acid sequence data using MEGA5. From the result, five garlic viruses were identified viz. Garlic virus C (78.6 %), Garlic virus D (64.3 %), Garlic virus X (78.6 %), Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV) (100%), and Leek yellow stripe virus (LYSV) (78.6 %). The study revealed the presence of complex mixtures of viruses with 42.9 % of the samples had co-infected with a species complex of Garlic virus C, Garlic virus D, Garlic virus X, OYDV, and LYSV. Pairwise comparisons of the isolated Potyviruses and Allexiviruses species revealed high identity with that of the known members of their respected species. As an exception, less within species identity was observed among Garlic virus C isolates as compared with that of the known members of the species. Finally, our results highlighted the need for stepping up a working framework to establish virus-free garlic planting material exchange in the country which could result in the reduction of viral gene flow across the country. Author SummaryGarlic viruses are the most devastating disease since garlic is the most vulnerable crop due to their vegetative nature of propagation. Currently, the garlic viruses are the aforementioned production constraint in Ethiopia. However, so far very little is known on the identification, diversity, and dissemination of garlic infecting viruses in the country. Here we explore the prevalence, genetic diversity, and the presence of mixed infection of garlic viruses in Ethiopia using next generation sequencing platform. Analysis of nucleotide and amino acid sequences of coat protein genes from infected samples revealed the association of three species from Allexivirus and two species from Potyvirus in a complex mixture. Ultimately the article concludes there is high time to set up a working framework to establish garlic free planting material exchange platform which could result in a reduction of viral gene flow across the country.