Presence of rose spring dwarf-associated virus in Chile: Partial genome sequence and detection in roses and their colonizing aphids

Rose is one of the most important cut flowers produced in the world. It is also grown in landscape plantings and public gardens for ornamental purposes. However, there is no detailed information available about viruses infecting roses in Chile. In order to gain insight about the viruses that could be present, a plant showing yellow vein chlorosis in its leaves was collected from a garden in Santiago. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) was isolated and after a random primed RT-PCR amplification procedure followed by sequencing, Rose spring dwarf-associated virus (RSDaV) presence was established. In order to widen the survey, several additional symptomatic and asymptomatic plants as well as aphids were screened by RT-PCR using two different pairs of virus-specific primers. RSDaV was detected in 24% of the analyzed samples. To our knowledge, this is the first report of RSDaV in Chilean rose plants and Rhodobium porosum (Sanderson) aphids.