Hello! I am a 2nd year Plant Pathology PhD student at NC State University in Dr. Anna Whitfield's laboratory. I study tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and how it interacts with its plant and vector hosts. I am especially interested in how resistance breaking TSWV might behave differentially in its hosts compared to non-resistance breaking TSWV.
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Comparing resistance breaking and non-resistance breaking tomato spotted wilt virus in the plant host
H. A. MCINNES,
K. A. LAHRE, C. A. XAVIER, D. ROTENBERG, A. E. WHITFIELD
1903 Hillsborough St. Raleigh, NC 27607
Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is one of the most devastating plant pathogens in the world. Host resistance is the most effective way to manage TSWV, and all commercially available TSWV resistant tomatoes rely on a single resistance gene, Sw-5, which recognizes the TSWV movement protein, NSm. This gene is essential for viral cell-to-cell movement in the plant. However, resistance-breaking (RB) TSWV is becoming more prevalent worldwide. Historically, the majority of documented RB-TSWV isolates are associated with a NSmC118Y or NSmT120N substitution. In the summer of 2022, RB-TSWV with a novel NSmD122G mutation was discovered independently in North Carolina and Hungary. Because of NSm’s vital role in TSWV virulence and the fact that TSWV’s gene products often play multiple roles, there are likely far-reaching effects of NSm mutations other than the RB ability. However, little is known about how these conventional and novel RB mutations might affect TSWV behavior. We hypothesize that RB-TSWV could have altered fitness that may affect virus movement, disease severity, and vector transmission. Using RB and non-RB TSWV isolates, we will compare symptom onset, severity, viral titer, and viral movement in tomato to determine if these resistance breaking mutations affect TSWV behavior in the plant host.