A Study on Soybean Mosaic Virus Transmission via Soybean Seeds

Infection caused by Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is recognized as a long-standing threat in almost all soybean (Glyince max) producing areas in the world. The virus is seed-borne and efficiently spread by pollen and aphids. Previous studies on Pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV) showed that the virus uses the embryonic suspensor for the direct invasion of the embryo. The goal of our study is to determine if the SMV infection to immature soybean plants (the V2 stage) leads to embryonic infection and SMV transmission. Towards this goal, we initiated an investigation on possible routes and rates of seed transmission of SMV. We hypnotized that infection before flowering (the R1 stage) might lead to vertical SMV transmission. We have developed a fluorescence protein-tagged recombinant SMV infectious clone and further used it for localization of SMV in William 82 floral organ and seed tissues through the use of Arg/HeNe laser scan confocal microscopy, DAS-ELISA and RT-PCR. y offer a novel strategy to control SMV.
Our preliminary results indicate that though SMV distributed in the seed testa, cotyledon and radical tissue but its transmission rate varies among seeds, suggesting that the seed embryo is a potential source for SMV transmission and blocking this transmission may offer a novel strategy to control SMV.