First report of Groundnut ringspot virus (GRSV) infecting tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) in South Africa.

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is an important industrial crop from the Solanaceae family cultivated for its leaves in approximately 100 countries worldwide. In South Africa (SA), tobacco is grown in five of its nine provinces: Limpopo, North West, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Mpumalanga.

High-Throughput Sequencing Application in the Diagnosis and Discovery of Plant-Infecting Viruses in Africa, A Decade Later.

High-throughput sequencing (HTS) application in the field of plant virology started in 2009 and has proven very successful for virus discovery and detection of viruses already known. Plant virology is still a developing science in most of Africa; the number of HTS-related studies published in the scientific literature has been increasing over the years as a result of successful collaborations. Studies using HTS to identify plant-infecting viruses have been conducted in 20 African countries, of which Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania share the most published papers.

High-throughput sequencing of virus-infected Cucurbita pepo samples revealed the presence of Zucchini shoestring virus in Zimbabwe.

Objectives: Plant-infecting viruses remain a serious challenge towards achieving food security worldwide. Cucurbit virus surveys were conducted in Zimbabwe during the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons. Leaf samples displaying virus-like symptoms were collected and stored until analysis.

Genome sequence analysis of two South African isolates of Moroccan watermelon mosaic virus infecting cucurbits.

Moroccan watermelon mosaic virus (MWMV) has been prevalent in cucurbits in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) since it was first reported in 1987. However, full genome studies of the South African isolates have never been conducted previously. The full genome of two MWMV isolates infecting cucurbits (Cucurbita pepo L.