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Abstract

Tomato yellow leaf curl disease affects tomato crops significantly through the vectors of whitefly Bemisia tabaci. In the current research, tomato yellow leaf curl virus-infected plants from the Jazan region collected in the 2023 and 2024 seasons were used to study and detect the virus in relation to their effects on infected plant tissues. Results from DAS-ELISA were highly positive with OD₄₀₅ values from 2.11 to 2.23, thus indicating the presence of high amounts of the virus. Introduction of the virus through syringe injection into healthy tomato plants caused development of tyloc virus symptoms after 4-6 weeks, whereas mechanical rubbing could not infect the plant, hence confirming that TYLCV is confined to the phloem tissue. PCR detection using degenerate primers for the AV1 region yielded only one amplicon of 550 base pairs in the infected samples and none in the uninfected samples. Sequence homology and phylogenetic tree analysis demonstrated that the isolate has a similarity of 97-99% with Saudi TYLCV isolates belonging to the Middle Eastern type. Electron microscopy analysis of infected leaf tissues revealed cellular alterations, including damaged chloroplasts, deteriorated mitochondria, and nuclear irregularities.

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