Abstract

Effective control of ipomoviruses that cause cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) in Africa has remained problematic despite eight remarkable decades (1930-2021) of research efforts. Molecular mechanisms underlying resistance breakdown in genetically improved cassava are still unknown. The vast genetic diversity of cassava brown streak viruses, which is crucial for the improvement of routine reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays in CBSD-endemic regions of Africa, is controversial and underrepresented. From a molecular epidemiology viewpoint, this review discusses the reasons for why permanent control of CBSD is difficult in the modern era, even with the presence of diverse in silico and omics tools, recombinant DNA, and high throughput next-generation sequencing technologies. Following an extensive nucleotide data search in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database and a literature review in PubMed and Scopus, we report that genomic data of 87.62% (474/541) strains of cassava brown streak virus are missing due to poor sequencing capacity in Africa. The evolution dynamics of viral virulence and pathogenicity has not yet been fully explored from the available 67 (12.38%) genomic sequences, owing to poor bioinformatics capacity. Tanzania and Zambia have the highest and lowest disease inoculum pressure, correspondingly. Knowledge gaps in molecular biology and the overall molecular pathogenesis of CBSD viruses impede effective disease control in Africa. Recommendations for possible solutions to the research questions, controversies, and hypotheses raised in this study serve as a roadmap for the invention of more effective CBSD control methods.

Keywords

Cassava brown streak viruses; Molecular pathogenesis; Host-and-pathogen interaction; Resistance breakdown; Infectious clones (ICs); RNA interference (RNAi)

Published in

Infection, Genetics and Evolution
2021, Volume: 94, article number: 105001
Publisher: ELSEVIER

SLU Authors

• Mero, Herieth

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of Dar es Salaam

• Bongcam Rudloff, Erik

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2021.105001

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/113677